Sony patents a brain manipulation technology (ultrasonic controller beams sounds, sights into brains) November 22, 2011 Imagine movies and computer games in which you get to smell, taste and perhaps even feel things. Thats the tantalising prospect raised by patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain - granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony. The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating sensory experiences ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims. A technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation can activate nerves by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue. Magnetic fields cannot be finely focused on small groups of brain cells, whereas ultrasound could be.. Details are sparse, and Sony declined New Scientists request for an interview with the inventor, who is based in its offices in San Diego, California,. Richard Mihran,a scientist of the University of Colorado, Boulder, has concerns about the proposed methods long-term safety. Sony first submitted a patent application for the ultrasound method in 2000, which was granted in March 2003. Since then Sony has filed a series of continuations, most recently in December 2004 (US 2004/267118 ). - From issue 2494 of New Scientist magazine, 07 April 2005, page 10 © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 06:11:39 +0000
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