By Leonard
Mlodinow, Special to CNN
updated
10:22 AM EST, Sun January 6, 2013
In junior high
I was a science fiction fan, divorcing Ray Bradbury and Author C Clark novels
of strange new worlds, robots, Martians and brain control. I was reading today
about new research in the field of optogentics by Leonard Mlodinow. The
article sounds like someone out of science fiction and discussed fascinating
new research in Optogenetics and the discovery of a kind of protein that can
be used to turn brain neurons on and off in response to light.
The
exotic light-sensitive protein is not present in normal neurons, so scientists
designed a way to insert it. That is accomplished through a type of gene
engineering called "transfection" that employs "vectors"
such as viruses to infect the target neuron, and, once there, to insert genetic
material that will cause the neuron to manufacture the light-sensitive protein.
Put it
all together, and you have that sci-fi-sounding technology:
genetically-engineered neurons that you can turn on and off at will, inside the
brain of a living and freely-moving animal.
It is the
combined use of optics and genetics that give optogenetics its name, but it's
not the "how" that makes optogenetics exciting, it is the
"what." Scientists didn't really develop it to "take over"
a creature's brain. They developed it, like fMRI, to learn about the brain, and
how the brain works, in this case by studying the effect of stimulating
specific types of neurons. To see how they are using it to study Parkinsons
disease and Schizophrenia read on http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/06/opinion/mlodinow-science-frontier/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
