NIH funds wireless technology to control human behavior

by: | September 8, 2015
NIH funds wireless technology to control human behavior
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(NaturalHealth365) It sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie. Unfortunately, the spending of federal funds on wireless technology to control the brain is all too real.

Taking advantage of public funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Defense Department, scientists have developed a remote-controlled tissue implant for the brain. The implant makes it possible for neuroscientists to use wireless technology to control behavior and motion by injecting drugs and shining lights on neurons deep inside the brain.

The goal of ‘mad’ science: Wireless control of human behavior

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, conducted the experiment, which involved creation of the device as well as using it to control brain neurons in mice. Their results were published in the scientific journal Cell.

While their experiment limited its focus to mice, the implications for administering drugs and manipulating the human brain are clear. Could the same technology be used in the future to control behaviors of humans? Might the technology be used to administer drugs to unwilling patients?

John A. Rogers, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, served as senior author of the published paper. In a media release by the NIH, he foreshadowed future use of the technology, stating, “Ultra-miniaturized devices like this have tremendous potential for science and medicine.”

Scientists dream about manipulating brain function by remote control

The goal of the experiment was to successfully develop a remote controlled implant that could simultaneously deliver drugs and light, two significant ways of controlling brain cells. The study involved a series of exercises during which scientists used the wireless technology’s ability to maneuver mice, proving the implant’s ability to control brain function.

One phase of the study involved injecting viruses that labeled cells with genetic dyes in the mice brains. Another part of the study involved introducing a drug that mimics morphine and then forcing the mice to walk in circles.

Combining their ability to use both light and drug delivery to control the mice, the researchers also forced the light-sensitive mice to stay at one side of a cage by causing the implant to shine laser pulses onto the brain cells. They then reversed the effect by injecting a drug that blocks neuron communication.

Big pharma will profit greatly from mind control techniques

The researchers leading the experiment to control behavior and movement are associated with scientific labs studying the circuits that control a variety of disorders, including stress, depression and addiction.

Their experiment reflects the school of thinking widely held among those in the scientific and medical communities: there is no room for natural approaches to improving health. Statistics prove nations relying heavily on pharmaceuticals are actually less healthy, however, but the influence of wealthy pharmaceutical companies dominates.

As though concerns over future use of the technology weren’t already heightened, the researchers also published instructions for manufacturing the implant along with their study findings. In stating their reason for making their development of the implant public, one of the lead scientists noted, “A tool is only good if it’s used.”

In a further sound bite, he went on to praise the concept of an open, crowdsourcing approach to neuroscience. Far from crowdsourcing, however, the realty of neuroscience research has been one of public funding and the deep pockets of big pharma.

Fears over how the new technology could be used are further fueled by similar technology that has already been developed. In yet another move sure to line the pockets of big pharma, a company called Microchips Biotech has developed a microchip that can be implanted into the human body. The microchip then makes it possible for medication to be administered either via wireless technology or by preprogrammed scheduling.

What kind of world are we creating?

References:
https://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2015/ninds-16.htm

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