New Nano-Tech to Control the Brain Using Magnetic Fields
Researchers in South Korea developed Nano-MIND technology for wireless control of brain regions using magnetic fields. This innovation offers precise modulation of deep brain circuits, potentially impacting cognition and emotion. Published in Nature Nanotechnology, the study suggests applications in neuroscience and neurological treatments.
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Researchers at the Center for Nanomedicine in South Korea have developed Nano-MIND technology, allowing wireless control of specific brain regions using magnetic fields. This groundbreaking technology enables precise modulation of deep brain neural circuits, potentially shedding light on high-level brain functions like cognition and emotion. By leveraging magnetized nanoparticles and magnetic fields, Nano-MIND can activate targeted brain circuits remotely. The technology has demonstrated the ability to modulate emotions, social behaviors, and appetite in animals by selectively activating specific brain regions. This advancement holds promise for neuroscience research, brain-computer interfaces, and potential therapeutic applications for neurological disorders. Director CHEON Jinwoo highlighted the technology's potential for understanding brain functions, enhancing artificial neural networks, advancing brain-computer interfaces, and developing treatments for neurological conditions. The study detailing Nano-MIND technology was published in Nature Nanotechnology in July 2023.
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3 commentsSo invasive genetic engineering used to express the magnetically sensitive (instead of light or ultrasound or whatever) ion channels in the neuronal populations of choice.
Cool stuff, another tool, but there is a way to directly control brains using only magnetic fields and no invasive genetic engineering: transcranial magnetic stimulation. It's where a very, very, very fast changing magnetic field induces a voltage in a tissue. The rate of change of field being proportional to the induced voltage. Generally this means ramping up from 0 to ~5000 amps in a small magnetic coil in less than 10 ms. Unfortunately TMS is not very focal and engineering limits mean the effected tissue regions are about ~5-10 mm spheroids in general (with a slow fall off over large scales); too big for mouse models but fine for humans.
Headline misleading.
You can tell from background, because strong magnetic fields take an immense amount of power and space, and TMS & MRI magnets beyond 1 Tesla are the size and weight and density of an anvil. Nothing nano about magnets. Nanotech interacting electrically, sure, but nanotech interacting with living tissue magnetically is ludicrous.
Reading the actual article:
It isn't nanotech, it isn't controlling "the brain", it's testing a brain specifically genetically engineered to express magnetically sensitive control/sensory input sites that a TMS can target selectively.
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