A very positive development in the convergence between neural science and information technology is highlighted by the new science of optogenetics. Currently focused on animal models, this genetically engineers specific neurals cells in the brain so that they will react to light in engineered ways, stimulated by minute optical fibres. These practices promise possible new palliative methodologies for reversing the effects of age related cognitive degeneration, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other such cruel robberies.
So far researchers have only experimented upon flies, rats, mice, monkeys and worms. Tests on humans are at least five years off, but tinkering with the brains of mice has already suggested a new way to treat Parkinson's disease in people.
"This allows us to really start to speak the language of the brain," says Karl Deisseroth, a psychiatrist and professor of bioengineering at Stanford University who is one of the pioneers of the method.
Optogenetics works by zeroing in on selected sets of the brain's interconnected nerve cells, or neurons. Some neurons are thought to control memory, while others handle speech and still others the motion of muscles. Neurons send out signals to other neurons in the form of electrical "spikes" -- tiny electrical zaps that encode information or control muscles.
Another technique that affords us greater insight in the mind and allows us to move from the gross manipulation of the brain to a lighter, more precise understanding.