Israel invents mind-control bots

Of all the physical components of the human body, the one we most associate with our "self" and our consciousness is the brain. But as central as the brain is to our existence, we understand very little about how it actually works. According to Dr. Thomas Insel, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH), around 80% of the brain functions is unknown to scientists.

It may be science fiction, but Israeli scientists use human minds to control nanobot activities for the first time

"In the 1970s, we had a pretty good understanding of how the kidney serves as a filter, how the heart serves as a pump, what lungs do and how they do it; but 40 years today, I can't tell you — nor can anyone else — how the brain functions as an information processing organ. How does it do it? Even with our ability to explore outer space, we still cannot map out the brain, and we still cannot understand this of our inner space," Insel said.

The scientists successfully made a group of cockroaches follow a person's mind

But this is set to change. For the first time, researchers at Bar Ilan University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, both in Israel, have developed new technology that allows tiny bots to release drugs into the body controlled by human thought alone. The test involved a man using his thoughts to activate nano robots inside a cockroach.

Even with modern technologies, around 80% of the brain remain unknown

When we take or inject medicine, they are delivered into the body but there is no way to "turn off" the drug once it gets into the bloodstream. The medicine may also not be delivered on time and may come with unnecessary side effects. The Israeli scientist built a nanorobot out of DNA that can be switched on and off to release drugs within the body when needed and this tiny robot can be manipulated using mind control.

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'Led by Dr. Ido Bachelet of Bar Ilan University, scientists demonstrated how to control this process with human brainwaves. Using a computer algorithm, they trained the system to detect when a person's brain was under strain from doing mental arithmetic. The team then placed a fluorescent drug in the bots and injected them into various cockroaches that were placed inside an electromagnetic coil.

Israeli scientists hope one day we would be able to heal our body and illness with our own minds

The team then attached a fluorescent drug to the bots and injected them into a cockroach sat inside an electromagnetic coil. A person wearing an EEG cap that measures brain activity was then instructed either to do mental calculations, or rest. The cap was connected to the electromagnetic coil, switching it on when the man was calculating and off when he was resting. By examining when fluorescence appeared inside different cockroaches, the team confirmed that it worked.

The new technology may spur further research to decipher the brain

The algorithm could be trained to track other types of brain activity, says Sachar Arnon, a member of the team at the Interdisciplinary Center. "It could track brain states that underlie ADHD or schizophrenia, for example. It could be modified to suit your needs." The idea would be to automatically trigger the release of a drug when it is needed. For example, some people don't always know when they need medication – before a violent episode of schizophrenia, for instance. If an EEG could detect it was coming, it could stimulate the release of a preventative drug.

Welcome to the era of using your brain power

"As a proof of principle we demonstrate activation of DNA robots to cause a cellular effect inside the insect Blaberus discoidalis, by a cognitively straining task," researchers wrote in the journal Public Library of Science One. "This technology enables the online switching of a bioactive molecule on and off in response to a subject's cognitive state." The researchers believe the technology could be used to treat many mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and ADHD.

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However, the technology isn't ready to be used in humans yet. To work, the setup needs a smaller, more portable method of measuring brain activity – something Arnon says shouldn't be too far away. "People could take this in all different directions. Imagine if you could deliver the exact amount of alcohol that you wanted to keep you in a happy state but not drunk. Kind of stupid, but this could happen. I think we've just scratched the surface."

Future human: Fusion of body with nanobots controlled by the mind?

There is a myth that humans only use 10% of their brains. Neurologist Barry Gordon describes the myth as false, adding, "we use virtually every part of the brain, and that (most of) the brain is active almost all the time." The more accurate description is that we use our brain at 10% productivity. "The human brain could be enhanced by tiny robotic implants that connect to cloud-based computer networks to give us 'God-like' abilities, according to a leading computer scientist, Ray Kurzweil, who works on Google's machine learning project.

Israel invents mind-control bots

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