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Non-Invasive Mind Control Lets Humans Wag a Rat's Tail

Let me tell you a mind-bending story about mind control.

Let me tell you a mind-bending story about mind control. This is a sci-fi idea that's quickly becoming a reality as scientists better understand that grey matter between our ears, and this year has been one for breakthroughs. The latest comes from Boston where a Harvard Medical School research team has whipped up a way for a human brain to control a rat's brain. This so-called brain-to-brain interface enables a human subject to move a rat's tail without getting wires plugged into her head.

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That doesn't mean it's a simple process. The process starts with a strobe light, of all things. The strobe stimulates the human subject's brain which then puts out brainwave signals that are picked up by an EEG. The EEG data is then translated into an ultrasonic frequency that's blasted into the rat's head. Equipment aside, it's akin to a kind of telepathy, as it's fairly non-invasive.

The experiment inevitably brings to mind another recent breakthrough in the world of brain-to-brain interfaces. About a month ago, scientists successfully connected the brains of two rats so that they had some very basic communication from one brain to the other. Both rats were given a simple challenge to pull the correct one of several levers. One was shown which lever to pull with a light; the other was not. However, when their brains were connected, the rat without the light pulled off a 70 percent success rate.

The new technique doesn't necessarily mean we're soon going to be thinking thoughts to each other. (You can still try that if you want, but it won't work.) However, these new technologies offer a lot of clues about brains actually work. Scientists still don't totally know what makes the grey magic work. Somewhere down the line, this knowledge could be put to good use helping to cure diseases like Alzheimer's and epilepsy.