Posted by:
helemon
(
)
Date: February 10, 2011 10:41PM
http://io9.com/#!5756291/a-drug-that-makes-you-violent-then-peaceful-again"A group of neuroscientists in California and Seattle published a paper today in Nature, showing how they used bursts of light to stimulate the "hypothalamic attack area" in mouse brains. Basically, they use light to change the behavior of neurons in the mouse hypothalamus in a technique called "optogenetics" that combines optics with genetic manipulation. After undergoing optogenetic stimulation, their mice would attack anything introduced into a cage with them - other mice, and even inanimate objects like a glove."
"And with just a bit of tweaking, the scientists could convert that attack pattern into a mating pattern - thus shutting down an attack as quickly as they started it. They also found that mice who were already mating were largely immune to having their attack areas stimulated with light. You couldn't easily turn a mating mouse into a fighting one."
"Because these optogenetic studies focused on the hypothalamus, an ancient part of the brain that humans share with other mammals, it's likely that scientists will seek a way to apply what they've learned to humans."
So the lesson from this is, Make Love to end War!
This raises an interesting question for Creationists. Why would God a) create a part of the brain inside the skull that is sensitive to light? b) design that part so that light would cause his creation to act in a no doubt sinful aggressive or sexual manner? Is the light Satan!
This also makes me wonder about all the flashing lights at discos and rock concerts.