6 ms·

The Man With A 'Battery Operated Brain'

94 points by Libertatea 13y ago

51Cards 13y ago
I know nothing about this procedure or what percentage of patients would be eligible for it but... my complete lack of education on the topic aside... on the face that has to be one of the most remarkable medical videos I have possibly ever seen. Seemingly groundbreaking.
kryten 13y ago
Simply awesome. The people who research, design and implement these "hacks" deserve infinitely more credit and acknowledgement than all of us. It really annoys me that the superficial celebrity turds on legs get so much attention and the people making real differences to the world go unknown and unacknowledged.
nooron 13y ago
So awesome. It's not appropriate to post to Hacker News, but if anyone's interested in reading a funny, lay-person friendly commentary on the economics and ethics of cognition enhancing surgery and technology, I've got a really interesting paper lying around called Wireheading Rawls. I'd be happy to send it to anyone interested.
- hansy 13y ago
  I'd be definitely interested. Email's in my profile. Thanks!
- gommm 13y ago
  I'd be interested too. Thanks!
- habosa 13y ago
  Here as well. sam [at] habosa [dot] com.
- ccarter84 13y ago
  I would as well - old econ reading is a little rusty, so layperson is probably the right level to restart my brain at. ccarter84 (at) the all-surveilled google mail Thanks!
mercuryrising 13y ago
This might be a little dated now (a year or two), but I had a class with some emphasis on deep brain stimulation. The overall consensus from the professor was that we know that it does work, we know how the electronics and everything work, but we don't know what's happening in the brain to make it work. We don't know why we see the results we do with DBS, and they're sometimes pretty phenomenal results (like this tremor remover). Depression, chronic pain, tremors, and probably many things we don't know yet can be solved by putting some electrodes deep inside your brain and outputting a constant current. The one trouble spot is that the brain really, really does not like when foreign objects are embedded in it. The electrode goes in, punctures the blood brain barrier, and works for a while. When you put something foreign in the brain, astrocytes (brain cells that form the blood brain barrier) will form around the electrode and create a new blood brain barrier around it, causing the electrode that was once inside the brain to be on the outside. Also, the stimulation current seems to 'overdrive' the nearby neurons, causing them to die. This reduces the effectiveness of DBS, as living neurons are now farther away, reducing the effectiveness of the stimulation. Patients need to be awake during surgery so the doctors know when the electrode is placed correctly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fjiEOb40M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fjiEOb40M
- jlgreco 13y ago
  > When you put something foreign in the brain, astrocytes (brain cells that form the blood brain barrier) will form around the electrode and create a new blood brain barrier around it, causing the electrode that was once inside the brain to be on the outside. Do the electrodes continue to work through this barrier? If they do, this formation seems like a good thing to me, unless there is something else going on.
  - kghose 13y ago
    Yes, the current spreads regardless, since everything is basically saline (so to speak). So the more distant neurons are activated at a lower level (due to the r^2 drop in current density)
    - 13y ago
cadr 13y ago
I heard about this years ago, and thought it was science fiction that would never actually happen. Then I saw in a Facebook feed that my high school physics teacher has one. Funny how these can sneak up on you.
contingencies 13y ago
I remember reading from multiple sources that MDMA is able to suspend Parkinsons, apparently through its primary effect, ie. flooding the brain with seratonin. Could someone more clued up on brain science please explain how the mechanism of deep brain stimulation (DBS) is related to that route of suspension, if at all?
neoyagami 13y ago
i hope some day there will be a cure for my LHON :)

94 points by Libertatea 13y ago

I know nothing about this procedure or what percentage of patients would be eligible for it but... my complete lack of education on the topic aside... on the face that has to be one of the most remarkable medical videos I have possibly ever seen. Seemingly groundbreaking.

kryten 13y ago

Simply awesome. The people who research, design and implement these "hacks" deserve infinitely more credit and acknowledgement than all of us. It really annoys me that the superficial celebrity turds on legs get so much attention and the people making real differences to the world go unknown and unacknowledged.

nooron 13y ago

So awesome. It's not appropriate to post to Hacker News, but if anyone's interested in reading a funny, lay-person friendly commentary on the economics and ethics of cognition enhancing surgery and technology, I've got a really interesting paper lying around called Wireheading Rawls. I'd be happy to send it to anyone interested.

hansy 13y ago
I'd be definitely interested. Email's in my profile. Thanks!
gommm 13y ago
I'd be interested too. Thanks!
habosa 13y ago
Here as well. sam [at] habosa [dot] com.
ccarter84 13y ago
I would as well - old econ reading is a little rusty, so layperson is probably the right level to restart my brain at. ccarter84 (at) the all-surveilled google mail Thanks!

mercuryrising 13y ago

This might be a little dated now (a year or two), but I had a class with some emphasis on deep brain stimulation. The overall consensus from the professor was that we know that it does work, we know how the electronics and everything work, but we don't know what's happening in the brain to make it work. We don't know why we see the results we do with DBS, and they're sometimes pretty phenomenal results (like this tremor remover). Depression, chronic pain, tremors, and probably many things we don't know yet can be solved by putting some electrodes deep inside your brain and outputting a constant current. The one trouble spot is that the brain really, really does not like when foreign objects are embedded in it. The electrode goes in, punctures the blood brain barrier, and works for a while. When you put something foreign in the brain, astrocytes (brain cells that form the blood brain barrier) will form around the electrode and create a new blood brain barrier around it, causing the electrode that was once inside the brain to be on the outside. Also, the stimulation current seems to 'overdrive' the nearby neurons, causing them to die. This reduces the effectiveness of DBS, as living neurons are now farther away, reducing the effectiveness of the stimulation. Patients need to be awake during surgery so the doctors know when the electrode is placed correctly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fjiEOb40M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fjiEOb40M

jlgreco 13y ago
> When you put something foreign in the brain, astrocytes (brain cells that form the blood brain barrier) will form around the electrode and create a new blood brain barrier around it, causing the electrode that was once inside the brain to be on the outside. Do the electrodes continue to work through this barrier? If they do, this formation seems like a good thing to me, unless there is something else going on.
- kghose 13y ago
  Yes, the current spreads regardless, since everything is basically saline (so to speak). So the more distant neurons are activated at a lower level (due to the r^2 drop in current density)
  - 13y ago

cadr 13y ago

I heard about this years ago, and thought it was science fiction that would never actually happen. Then I saw in a Facebook feed that my high school physics teacher has one. Funny how these can sneak up on you.

contingencies 13y ago

I remember reading from multiple sources that MDMA is able to suspend Parkinsons, apparently through its primary effect, ie. flooding the brain with seratonin. Could someone more clued up on brain science please explain how the mechanism of deep brain stimulation (DBS) is related to that route of suspension, if at all?

neoyagami 13y ago

i hope some day there will be a cure for my LHON :)