
Tiny magnetically powered implant may be future of deep brain stimulation - dr_dshiv
https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2020/06/17/tiny-magnetically-powered-implant-may-be-future-of-deep-brain-stimulation/
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jerrysievert
> _Scientists observed that the animals preferred to be in areas of their
> enclosures where a magnetic field activated the stimulator, and provided a
> small voltage to the reward center of their brains._

reminds me a little bit of the wires in Larry Niven's books (ringworld, et
al), where Louis Wu is implanted with a wire into the pleasure center of his
brain and becomes highly addicted.

if this is as non-invasive of a surgery as the article suggests, it could be
the next avenue of "fun".

~~~
toomuchtodo
The end of porn and typical recreational activities as we know it. Cut out the
middle person, jump right to properly applied current to the wetware.

~~~
darepublic
you mean the pornification of everything

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toomuchtodo
Is it still porn if it’s just electrical current giving you a virtual dopamine
hit? No sexual themes required.

~~~
darepublic
Not require but it's like texture with food.. dopamine is the flavour but the
story is the texture

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spike021
Whoa, this is potentially a pretty cool device. I don't have Parkinsons, but I
do have Essential Tremor[0].

I'm only in my late 20's now but I've had it since at least my early teens,
and it hasn't improved. In some ways it's possibly gotten a bit worse over
time as well.

When I last saw a neurologist about it about ten years ago, they could really
only recommend prescription medicine with nasty side-effects, so I decided
with my parents at the time that improving the tremor at the cost of
depression and other issues wouldn't be worth it.

I'm hopeful in the next decade or so there'll be something like this that
could resolve it before it gets to the point where I'm unable to feed myself;
I believe in the past there were companies that invented eating utensils for
people with severe tremors, but that's not ideal.

[0] [https://essentialtremor.org/](https://essentialtremor.org/)

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RhysU
Tremor sufferers are a wildly underserved community from a technology
perspective, if anyone wants to jump in. I hope usability advancements outdo
my personal ET decline as I age. And if not for me, for my children which will
have the same as my father has before me.

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madmaniak
Straight to the point - stimulating reward center you can train any brain to
willing perform any task. Human with such implant will do - and enjoy -
whatever is the will of unit controlling the implant. The reward center is
crutial in creatures self learning process.

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seesawtron
Original Paper:
[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.019](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.019)

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neural_thing
See DARPA'S N3 program for a variety of minimally invasive approaches to brain
stimulation.

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dr_dshiv
Why would this magnetic approach be better than using EMF to transmit power?

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chairmanwow1
As a side note, I’m always super skeptical when I see links with small numbers
of votes sitting on the front page (currently sitting at 12 votes and 0
comments). I always just assume it is the result of a voting ring or someone
sharing the link with people to upvote directly instead of natural voting
behavior.

~~~
dr_dshiv
As the original poster, I only wish I had a cabal to upvote my posts. I saw
the link on Google news and I was hoping to get some clarity on the concept
from folks here.

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xwdv
Magnetic? No thanks. You go through an MRI and your brain turns to scrambled
egg.

~~~
lgats
could be 'magnetically' powered without being magnetic or MRI sensitive.

RFID implants take advantage of electromagnetic coupling, but are MRI safe.

~~~
willcipriano
Even if it was MRI sensitive, never having a MRI again would be a small price
to pay for a Parkinson's cure.

