The experiment in speaking
via ‘thought’ happened in conditions of absolute secrecy. Until recently, only
a small team numbering a dozen researchers (including Dr Berg and Dr Riera)
were even aware of its existence. That
all changed a few days ago (in Aug 2014) when PLOS ONE, a website little known outside
academia, published a peer-reviewed scientific paper detailing its outcome. Daily Mail reports that the report is lengthy
and jargon-ridden. But to a layman, its findings seem little short of
sensational. For on that afternoon in March, Dr Berg and Dr Riera were indeed
able to achieve ‘conscious brain-to-brain communication’.
With Scientists being able
to transmit message into the mind of a colleague 5,000 miles away using brain
waves – perhaps a day would soon come when we can send even emails
'telepathically'? The Scientists used
EEG headsets to record electrical activity in the brain and it is reported that
electrical activity from words ‘hola’ and ‘ciao’ were converted into binary. The greeting was sent from
Thiruvananthapuram, India to Strasbourg. A computer translated the message and
then used electrical stimulation to implant it in the receiver’s mind, appearing
as specific flashes of light. According
to the researchers, this is the first time humans have sent a message almost
directly into each other’s brains.
Brain-wave sensing machines
have been used to ‘telepathically’ control everything from real-life
helicopters to characters in a computer game. Now the technology has gone a
step further by allowing someone in India to send an email to his colleague in
France using nothing but the power of his mind. The researchers used
electroencephalography (EEG) headsets to record electrical activity from
neurons firing in the brain, and convert the words ‘hola’ and ‘ciao’ into
binary. In EEG, electrical currents in
the brain are linked with different thoughts that are then fed into a computer
interface.
There, a computer translated
the message and then used electrical stimulation to implant it in the
receiver’s mind. This message appeared
as flashes of light in the corner of their vision. In France, a computer
translated the message and then used electrical stimulation to implant it in
the receiver’s mind that appeared as flashes of light in the corner of their
vision. The light appeared in sequences that allowed the receiver to decode the
information in the message. Researchers then conducted a similar experiment in
which thoughts were successfully transmitted from two participants, one in
Spain and one in France.
The human brain is made up
of billions of active neurons that have around 105,600 miles (170,000 km) of
combined length. Every time you have a thought, your brain produces weak but
distinct electrical signals corresponding to it. The electrical impulse is
generated by the chemical reaction between neurons, which can be measured. According
to the researchers, this is the first time humans have sent a message ‘almost
directly’ into each other’s brains. The evolution of civilization points to a
progressive increase of the interrelations between human minds, where by “mind”
we mean a set of processes carried out by the brain. The computer-mediated brain-to-brain
transmission from Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala state, India) (BCI side) to
Strasbourg, France (CBI) was realized using internet-linked EEG and TMS
technologies respectively. The power of mind and
the Scientific research is amazing indeed.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
4th Nov. 2014.
