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The National Public Radio report kindly submitted here to open discussion reports on the study lead author saying something that can fairly be summarized by the

The National Public Radio report kindly submitted here to open discussion reports on the study lead author saying something that can fairly be summarized by the report title. The report goes on to discuss the methods of the study, noting "The discovery came from a team of scientists who studied human glioma tumors implanted in mouse brains. The scientists used a technique called optogenetics, which uses light to control brain cells, to increase the activity of cells near the tumors." So this wasn't a human study, and it wasn't an intervention of asking the mice to think more or less, or to think differently, but rather an intervention of stimulating certain brain cells. As the NPR report points out, it's hardly likely that physicians can recommend that human patients reduce their brain activity to keep their gliomas from growing, but perhaps a treatment can be teased out of interrupting the signal that leads from neuron activity to glioma growth. I hope so. I have a close relative who list a fiancee to a glioma, and that kind of brain cancer is a very frightful disease.

jerf 12y ago
"it's hardly likely that physicians can recommend that human patients reduce their brain activity to keep their gliomas from growing," I have to admit my imagination flashed to an image of somebody wearing a portable biofeedback rig that buzzed (or perhaps zapped) them every time they used the target portion of their brain, in an attempt to starve the tumor. It would make a really fascinating experiment to hook someone up to such a device, then see whether the brain considers that enough of an aversive stimulus to move the targeted functionality to another part of the brain, as if that part of the brain was damaged. No way to get that past the ethics committees, I'm sure, but interesting. There's probably an interesting sci-fi story in the crazy home DIY tinker diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer who just puts together such a rig anyways with no medical approval... if we don't already have the off-the-shelf tech to do that today we're pretty darned close. (But I've never really worked out how to move from "high concept" to "actual plot", despite a few attempts.)
- shasta 12y ago
  > I have to admit my imagination flashed to an image of somebody wearing a portable biofeedback rig that buzzed (or perhaps zapped) them every time they used the target portion of their brain, in an attempt to starve the tumor. Hopefully the target portion of the brain isn't the part that responds to being zapped.
  - jerf 12y ago
    I imagine there are a lot of very entertaining failure cases, or, at least, entertaining failure cases as long as they aren't really happening to someone. Heh, perhaps that's the proper angle for the story... macabre comedy. Think Doc Brown meeting Marty McFly in the past for the first time (http://eol_images/Entire_Site/2012220/DocBrown.jpg http://eol_images/Entire_Site/2012220/DocBrown.jpg ) meets existential pratfalls. We laugh, we learn, we question the fundamental nature of the relationship between brain and mind.
- btoptical 12y ago
  Kind of the stuff of science fiction but...I can imagine that if we could put someone in a medical induced coma for a long-period of time, sort of like suspended animation, we could perhaps find ways to treat the cancer while the brain is inactive or at least limit the tumor growth until a more viable treatment is available at a future date.
- Terr_ 12y ago
  Art predicts life, perhaps? "Just a heads-up: That coffee we gave you earlier had fluorescent calcium in it so we can track the neuronal activity in your brain. There's a slight chance the calcium could harden and vitrify your frontal lobe. Anyway, don't stress yourself thinking about it. I'm serious. Visualizing the scenario under stress actually triggers the reaction." https://www.youtube.com/embed/OmH7tAJ0SfA?start=128&end=146 https://www.youtube.com/embed/OmH7tAJ0SfA?start=128&end=146

jerf 12y ago

"it's hardly likely that physicians can recommend that human patients reduce their brain activity to keep their gliomas from growing," I have to admit my imagination flashed to an image of somebody wearing a portable biofeedback rig that buzzed (or perhaps zapped) them every time they used the target portion of their brain, in an attempt to starve the tumor. It would make a really fascinating experiment to hook someone up to such a device, then see whether the brain considers that enough of an aversive stimulus to move the targeted functionality to another part of the brain, as if that part of the brain was damaged. No way to get that past the ethics committees, I'm sure, but interesting. There's probably an interesting sci-fi story in the crazy home DIY tinker diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer who just puts together such a rig anyways with no medical approval... if we don't already have the off-the-shelf tech to do that today we're pretty darned close. (But I've never really worked out how to move from "high concept" to "actual plot", despite a few attempts.)

shasta 12y ago
> I have to admit my imagination flashed to an image of somebody wearing a portable biofeedback rig that buzzed (or perhaps zapped) them every time they used the target portion of their brain, in an attempt to starve the tumor. Hopefully the target portion of the brain isn't the part that responds to being zapped.
- jerf 12y ago
  I imagine there are a lot of very entertaining failure cases, or, at least, entertaining failure cases as long as they aren't really happening to someone. Heh, perhaps that's the proper angle for the story... macabre comedy. Think Doc Brown meeting Marty McFly in the past for the first time (http://eol_images/Entire_Site/2012220/DocBrown.jpg http://eol_images/Entire_Site/2012220/DocBrown.jpg ) meets existential pratfalls. We laugh, we learn, we question the fundamental nature of the relationship between brain and mind.
btoptical 12y ago
Kind of the stuff of science fiction but...I can imagine that if we could put someone in a medical induced coma for a long-period of time, sort of like suspended animation, we could perhaps find ways to treat the cancer while the brain is inactive or at least limit the tumor growth until a more viable treatment is available at a future date.
Terr_ 12y ago
Art predicts life, perhaps? "Just a heads-up: That coffee we gave you earlier had fluorescent calcium in it so we can track the neuronal activity in your brain. There's a slight chance the calcium could harden and vitrify your frontal lobe. Anyway, don't stress yourself thinking about it. I'm serious. Visualizing the scenario under stress actually triggers the reaction." https://www.youtube.com/embed/OmH7tAJ0SfA?start=128&end=146 https://www.youtube.com/embed/OmH7tAJ0SfA?start=128&end=146