Technology

The Nervous system is fundamentally electric. When we move our arms, it moves because a signal was sent from the brain to the muscles that controls it. The message contains charged atoms moving in and out of nerve cells. Since the brain is electric, we can use electricity to record what the brain is doing, or we can bypass the brain entirely and control the body without the brain sending signals. By sending an electric signal we can move other people’s bodies or restore movement to people who are paralyzed. They would be able to feel through artificial hand as if it was their own. It could also be used to read people’s minds.

Electricity was not understood till the 1800s. Its ability to influence the body has been known at least since ancient Roman times. This is when a respected physician called Scribonius Largus wrote a book about a man who accidentally stepped on an electric fish and was suddenly relieved of gout pain. Scribonius found out that you can put an electric fish on your head and be relieved of headaches. In 1804 Giovanni Aldini, an Italian Physicist, discovered that he could make muscles move with electricity. He shocked the Europeans by passing electricity to the body of an executed criminal corpse. The corpse seems to open its eyes and appeared to sit up. Aldni wasn’t trying to shock people but was trying to show people that neurons control our movements and thoughts operates through electricity.

Imagine controlling the body without using the brain. Normally our body receives electrical signals through the nerves, but if we could use electrodes to send the signals, we could direct the body to move without using the brain; just using a remote control. This experiment was done using cockroaches. The experiment was done by doing surgery on the cockroaches to hijack the nervous system to send electrical impulses to their antenna. The steps are done through surgery on the cockroaches. To induce the cockroaches to anesthesia, they are put in ice water. Their nervous system will stop sending impulses. Once the roaches are anesthetized, they were ready for surgery. After two minutes in the ice water, the roach is removed then a drop of super glue is added to help connect the electrode on its head. Next, they inserted the ground wire into the flight muscle of the right and left wings. Then he snipped the antenna. He inserted the wire into the snipped tentacles of the roach. After the experiment, these cockroaches will be removed from their electrodes then retired. They will go back to their other colony or cockroaches where they will regrow their antenna and live their days. By connecting the battery to the electrode, the roaches received signals from an app which will send signals to steer the roach to the right when swiped right and left when swiped left on the mobile app.

This experiment was done to demonstrate how such technology can help in biomedical research such as deep brain stimulations in Parkinson’s disease. Also, it can be implemented to use cockroaches as a robo-roaches in search and rescue missions in disaster areas. Researchers at Texas A&M and NC State Universities are developing robo-roaches in the hopes that they will be used in future rescue missions. For example, by Sending an army of robo-roaches into a collapsed building, the hope the roaches will be able to find survivors or bodies. At the same time, by mounting a camera on the roaches, they can send images of the building.

This technology could help humanity greatly if it is utilized well. Even though sending electric signals to the muscle of the body to be moved is a discovery in ancient Rome, the technology of connecting the electrode, also known as electrotherapy, to the brain and deep brain stimulation, have been implemented in the 19th century with people with motor, behavioral disorders, and mental illness. In conclusion, such research and experiments could help humanity to progress faster with advancement of neuron technology. This will help to improve people’s lives; especially people with disabilities will highly benefit from this.

Source: Vsauce [Michael Stevens]. (2018, January 3). The Electric Brain – Mind Field S2 (Ep 8) [video]. Youtube.