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Your Portable Mind-Control Device May Be Coming Soon

The problem with the burgeoning field of mind control, it turns out, is not that it’s crazy but, rather, that the mind-control devices currently being developed are annoyingly bulky. Consequently, MIT professor Christian Wentz has designed a new mind-control hat “that wouldn’t look out of place at a royal wedding,” according to Discover, consisting of two circuit boards and an antenna. Plus, this device comes with a remote, so you can mind control on the go. Scientists haven’t tried the device on humans, but they’ve wired it to a mouse’s brain, controlling the animal’s behavior with flashes of light, turning various parts of the mouse’s brain on and off, increasing or decreasing aggressive or sexual behavior, and making the mouse temporarily walk in circles. Sounds nuts, but according to Discover, mind-control techniques, known as optogenetics, are old hat:


Optogenetics has always had a problem - there has to be a way of delivering the light to the altered neurons. Most people do it with optic fibres, tethered to a laser or an LED, but these have obvious drawbacks.

Most people? Really? We had no idea.

Mind control goes wireless [Not Rocket Science/Discover via Newser]

Your Portable Mind-Control Device May Be Coming Soon