Rat's the future of brain research?!?! Tel Aviv University Researchers believe so. The researchers at the university are using electrodes to stimulate the rodent's brain, which creates waveforms on a computer screen. This is an experiment by Tel Aviv's Psychology department, and it is nothing short of fascinating. The scientists are trying to replace this rat's brain with electronic equipment. Robot much? Although many people describe this as grotesque and unethical, the experiments might even help them make repairs to one of the most complex and mysterious system in the world: the human brain.
This research is driven to help people suffering from mind-afflicting illnesses; people ailing from diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's can benefit from these studies. The process involves replacing dead or dying brain tissue with a microchip which is sub-sequentially wired to the brain. The chip receives and processes the information that the brain sends it.
"Imagine there's a small area in the brain that is malfunctioning, and imagine that we understand the architecture of this damaged area," says Prof Matti Mintz, a psychobiologist the university that is involved in the project. "So we try to replicate this part of the brain with electronics."
Only time will tell whether this new method of treatment will be efficient in the long run!
For more information on the research tests, go to http://adf.ly/5weEB
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