Gizmorama - September 2, 2013

Good Morning,

According to U.S. scientists a human-to-human brain interface will allow one researcher to control the hand movements of a fellow researcher.

When I read the first line of this story I got goosebumps, and I'm sure you will too. If this is true, what's next?

Learn about this and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Scientists say Russian meteor probably had previous cosmic encounter --*
FLORENCE, Italy - The meteor exploding over Russia in February either collided with another body or came too close to the sun before it fell to Earth, scientists said Tuesday. Researchers at the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy in Novosibirsk announced the conclusion at a conference of the European Association of Geochemistry being help in Florence, Italy, based on an analysis of fragments from the meteorite, the main body of which fell to the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake near Chelyabinsk Feb. 15. The researchers said the structure and texture of some fragments show the meteorite had undergone an intensive melting process before it was subjected to extremely high temperatures as it entered the atmosphere. "The meteorite which landed near Chelyabinsk is a type known as an LL5 chondrite and it's fairly common for these to have undergone a melting process before they fall to Earth," institute researchers Victor Sharygin said. "This almost certainly means that there was a collision between the Chelyabinsk meteorite and another body in the solar system or a near miss with the sun." Researchers said the melted material in the interior of the meteor fragments is distinct from the "fusion crust' -- the thin layer of material on the surface of the meteorite that melts, then solidifies, as it travels through Earth's atmosphere. "However, many fragments of the meteorite were picked up by members of the public, so it's impossible to say how large a portion of the meteorite was affected," Sharygin said. "We hope to find out more once the main body of the meteorite is raised from Chebarkul Lake."


*-- Brain interface allows researcher to control another's hand movements --*
SEATTLE - U.S. scientists are reporting a non-invasive, human-to-human brain interface allowing one researcher to control the hand movements of a fellow researcher. Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, University of Washington researcher Rajesh Rao sent a brain signal to fellow scientist Andrea Stocco on the other side of the university campus, causing Stocco's finger to move on a keyboard. Rao and Stocco said they believe this is the first demonstration of human-to-human brain interfacing. "The Internet was a way to connect computers, and now it can be a way to connect brains," Stocco said. "We want to take the knowledge of a brain and transmit it directly from brain to brain." Rao sat in his lab wearing a cap with electrodes hooked up to an electroencephalography machine, which reads electrical activity in the brain. Stocco was in his lab across campus wearing a swim cap marked with the stimulation site for the transcranial magnetic stimulation coil that was placed directly over his left motor cortex, which controls hand movement. Rao looked at a computer screen displaying a simple video game. When he was supposed to fire a cannon at a target, he imagined moving his right hand -- being careful not to actually move his hand -- and his brain signals caused a cursor on his computer screen to hit the "fire" button. Almost instantaneously, Stocco, who wore noise-canceling ear buds and wasn't looking at a computer screen, involuntarily moved his right index finger to push the space bar on the keyboard in front of him, as if firing the cannon. Stocco said the feeling of his hand moving involuntarily was comparable to a nervous tic. "It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain," Rao said. "This was basically a one-way flow of information from my brain to his. The next step is having a more equitable two-way conversation directly between the two brains." The technology only reads certain kinds of simple brain signals, not a person's thoughts, Rao said, emphasizing it doesn't give anyone the ability to control your actions against your will. "I think some people will be unnerved by this because they will overestimate the technology," UW researcher Chantel Prat, who helped conduct the experiment, said. "There's no possible way the technology that we have could be used on a person unknowingly or without their willing participation."

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