Much of the focus has been on synapses, the connections between brain cells called neurons. In his latest book, Livewired: The inside story of the ever-changing brain, he examines just how the brain pulls off such wholesale changes and explores the extent to which we can harness this ability to learn new tricks.Įagleman says neuroscientists still have a lot to learn about how the brain changes. The inspiration for these ideas grew out of Eagleman’s study of neuroplasticity, the brain’s incredible ability to reforge itself in response to new experiences. Interpreting those vibrations effectively gives deaf people who use it a new kind of hearing. He has already created technologies along these lines, including a wristwatch-like device called Buzz that translates sound into patterns of vibration on the skin. According to David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in California, it will soon be possible to make all this a reality. WOULD you like to be hooked up to a device that lets you detect magnetic fields like a bird? How about sensing infrared light like a snake? Perhaps a feed of real-time stock market data into your mind is more your sort of thing.
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