TED: Ideas worth spreading. Brian Greene on string theory. Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome. Bonnie Bassler on how bacteria "talk". Patricia Burchat sheds light on dark matter. Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe. Michael Merzenich on re-wiring the brain. Scientists extract images directly from brain ::: Pink Tentacle. Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11.
According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people's dreams while they sleep. The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes.
Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. "These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity," says Dr. Think faster focus better and remember moreRewiring our brain to stay younger...