NEWRON Vol V, Issue VI

[Natan Davidovics]

NeuroEngineering Weekly Review Of News

 

As much as we try prevent our work from getting in the way of important things like spending time with family, surfing the web, and sending out weekly newsletters, we don't always succeed.  We at the NEWRON headquarters hope that you were able to manage over the past few weeks without this weekly digest.  And watch out for people eavesdropping on your daydreams (article #1).

 

Interesting NeuroEngineering links:

Hopkins Neuroengineering web site: http://neuroengineering.bme.jhu.edu
New job blog: http://neuroengjobs.blogspot.com/
Blog for administrative questions: http://neuroengineering.blogspot.com
NEWRON on the web!: http://neuroengineering.bme.jhu.edu/Home/newron

Enjoy,
Natan Davidovics
NEWRON Publishing Corporation

 

Brain-Computer Interface Eavesdrops on a Daydream

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/braincomputer-interface-eavesdrops-on-a-daydream/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=102810

New research, which will be reported in the journalNature, points to the ability to snoop on people’s visual imagination—although it’s still a long way away from the full-fledged dream-reading technologies popularized in this summer’s blockbuster movie Inception. Scientists from Germany, Israel, Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States have performed experiments in which they were able to monitor individual neurons in a human brain associated with specific visual memories. They then taught people to will one visual memory onto a television monitor to replace another.

Wiring The Brain to Aid People With Paralysis

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304248704575574181134954298.html?mod=asia_home

Scientists are reporting progress in their efforts to channel brain waves to power mechanical devices, a development that could someday help paralyzed people regain mobility. A person who suffers a brain-stem or spinal-cord injury because of an accident, stroke or disease can lose the ability to transmit the brain's messages to the rest of the body. Tapping these brain signals, and rerouting them by other means to artificial limbs or other devices, could enable a paralyzed person to perform some everyday functions, from picking up a fork to walking, scientists expect.

BLIND PEOPLE PERCEIVE TOUCH FASTER THAN THOSE WITH SIGHT

http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=news_102610

People who are blind from birth are able to detect tactile information faster than people with normal vision, according to a study in the Oct. 27 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. 
The brain requires a fraction of a second to register a sight, sound, or touch. In this study, a group of researchers led by Daniel Goldreich, PhD, of McMaster University explored whether people who have a special reliance on a particular sense — in the way blind people rely on touch — would process that sense faster.