TED Talk: Laser Control of Headless Fruit Flies Uncovers Secrets of the Mind
Ambitious researchers think they might be able to map the human brain in just five years, navigating the complex networks between neurons by using advanced images. An Austrian scientist has another idea: Work backward by manipulating neurons to figure out what they do. To accomplish this, Gero Miesenboeck and his grad students are engaging in optical mind control, implanting fruit flies with false memories and causing them to learn from mistakes they never made. They're also continuing their pioneering research into flying decapitated fruit flies. In a newly released video from this year's TED conference, Miesenboeck, a professor at Oxford, explains his pioneering work in the field of optogenetics, which involves genetically modifying nerve cells to react to light. Pulsing lasers at modified neurons mimics a brain impulse, allowing Miesenboeck and his colleagues to study what happens next. As he explains in the video below, the flies' neurons were modified...