Fwd: info direct to brain by pulse ultrasound
From: Michael Heleus
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Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 9:57 PM
Subject: Fwd: info direct to brain by pulse ultrasound




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Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 12:54:07 -0700
To: mheleus1@...
From: Michael Heleus <mheleus1@...>
Subject: info direct to brain by pulse ultrasound

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/04/07/sony.brain.reut/index.html
Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain


Thursday, April 7, 2005 Posted: 1743 GMT (0143 HKT)
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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- If you think video games are engrossing now,
just wait: PlayStation maker Sony Corp. has been granted a patent for beaming
sensory information directly into the brain.

The technique could one day be used to create video games in which you can
smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf.

The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a
technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce
"sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.

"The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex," the
patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person, such as a
blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear sounds."

According to New Scientist magazine, the first to report on the patent,
Sony's technique could be an improvement over an existing non-surgical method
known as transcranial magnetic stimulation. This activates nerves using rapidly
changing magnetic fields, but cannot be focused on small groups of brain cells.

Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist at the University of Tuebingen in
Germany, told New Scientist he had looked at the Sony patent and "found it
plausible." Birbaumer himself has developed a device that enables disabled
people to communicate by reading their brain waves.

A Sony Electronics spokeswoman told the magazine that no experiments had
been conducted, and that the patent "was based on an inspiration that this may
someday be the direction that technology will take us."
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