| WORLD'S FIRST BRAIN PROSTHESIS |
 14 Mar 2003 @ 18:23, by Letecia LaysonThis is not science fiction, this is real! An article in New Science by Duncan Graham-Rowe talks about "the world's first brain prosthesis -- an artificial hippocampus" which is about to be tested in California. "The job of the hippocampus appears to be to "encode" experiences so they can be stored as long-term memories elsewhere in the brain. "If you lose your hippocampus you only lose the ability to store new memories," says Berger. That offers a relatively simple and safe way to test the device: if someone with the prosthesis regains the ability to store new memories, then it's safe to assume it works. Good to know that soon, any damaged parts of my brain can be replaced. |