This Processingtalk article reports "today's medical technology could be used in the future to enhance our brains to make them work quicker and better, as revealed in a new free exhibition opening at the Science Museum on 10th October 06." From the article: "Visitors to the museum will be able to see how today's pioneering science works, alongside the mind boggling future possibilities and the ethical questions they raise at this exciting new interactive exhibition, sponsored by Siemens, at Antenna, the contemporary science gallery at the Science Museum. The exhibition, which is still to be named, will explore a variety of current and future technologies that could include artificial memory implants, advanced lie-detection tools that tap in to your consciousness, communicating with comatose patients and controlling virtual reality.
CURRENT TECHNOLOGY - THE FACTS.
EEG (Electroencephalogram) caps allow paralysed people to interface with and communicate via a computer and can also be used to control artificial limbs.
They work by placing electrodes on the scalp which measure the electrical activity of the brain.
fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) could help diagnose 'consciousness' in patients who are apparently in a coma.
It may also allow these 'locked-in' patients to communicate on a basic level.
fMRI works by scanning the brain and linking oxygen levels in the blood to different functions within the brain.
* TMS (Transcranial magnetic stimulation) could help stroke victims learn how to use their bodies again.
TMS works by placing a coil over the scalp which delivers a strong, short-lived magnetic 'shock', affecting/boosting electrical activity in the brain.
* tDCS (Transcranial direct current stimulation) could help stroke victims learn how to use their bodies again and works by passing a weak electrical current through the scalp, affecting how the brain makes new connections.
* Brain implants or chips also allow paralysed people to interface with and communicate via a computer, and to control artificial or robotic limbs.
AND THE MIND-EXPANDING FUTURE.
There are currently many areas that the Science Museum's exhibition developers are exploring, but examples include:.
* EEG caps could allow people to control computers with their minds enabling faster reactions and better game play.
Current tests in virtual reality environments could lead to commercial virtual reality games.
We could have brain implants that let us manipulate objects with our mind, acting like electronic telekinesis - turning off the TV for example.
* Chip implants could enable paralysed people to walk again, as well as replacing other lost functions by wirelessly connecting the brain's commands to the person's limbs, by-passing any damaged nerves.
* EEG caps monitor brain output when a person recognises a certain situation or image.
This could be used in court as evidence to indicate whether or not the accused person had memories of their crime scene or alibi, but more peer-reviewed research needs to be done as a case based on EEG evidence was recently thrown out of a US court.
Two commercial US companies are due to release similar MRI technology on the open market next year, but should this evidence be admissible in court?
* In healthy people, TMS might be able to improve their mental abilities.
Evidence suggests that people who use it could get better at using their brains in a different way enabling savant-like abilities.
Savants, or autistic savants, are people with extraordinary mental abilities - think Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
TMS could give non-savants a taste of these mental powers.
But, if this technology is refined and commercialised for a future when your child gets a dose before heading off to school in the morning, who would decide who should get it and will it simply be those who can afford it and if so, is that fair?
Emma Hedderwick, Science Museum exhibition manager said 'Researchers have already been able to apply today's technology for an amazing range of uses to diagnose and treat many conditions that affect the brain, allowing new insight into how our brains work.
However, we could be facing a future where non-medical use causes humans to be more machine than man.
This new technology is both exciting and fascinating, but it is important to consider the ethical issues of using it to better our brains.
For example, at what point do we stop being human?'.
The exhibition is sponsored by Siemens as part of a three-year commitment to the Science Museum.
The Science Museum's Wellcome Wing has been made possible by two major benefactions.
In the first major lottery award to the sciences, the Heritage Lottery Fund has contributed GBP23m and, in one of the largest grants ever made to a museum in this country, the Wellcome Trust, the independent medical research charity, has donated GBP17.75m.
Further generous support for the Antenna gallery is provided by Nature.
Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 163 years ago.
The company employs 21,122 people in the UK, including about 5,000 in the manufacturing sector.
Last year's revenues were GBP3 billion, including exports of GBP500 million.
Siemens provides innovative, high-quality services and solutions to customers in a diverse range of industry sectors, including power, automation and control, information and communication, medical, transportation, lighting, and household.
Siemens Medical Solutions is the UK's biggest supplier of medical technology, diagnostic imaging systems, IT and managed services, to the healthcare industry.
Every Siemens MRI scanner and more than a third of all MRI scanners installed in hospitals around the world have at their heart a superconducting magnet designed and manufactured by Siemens Magnet Technology in Oxfordshire.
Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire.
The exhibition will open to visitors 10th October 06."