"Researchers inserted the human cells into the brains of mice where they successfully integrated themselves into the wiring."

"Then the UW team applied a new technology, using light to stimulate the human cells and watching as they in turn activated mouse brain cells."

In a lab dish, the brain cells or neurons began firing simultaneously "like a power surge lighting up a building," said Jason Weick, an assistant scientist...

Weick said the use of light stimulation, called optogenetics, raises the possibility of modifying transplanted brain cells, in effect turning them up or down like the dimmer control on a light....

In the experiments with live mice, the UW researchers anesthetized the animals, inserted a needle into precise areas of the brain and injected the human neurons. The scientists selected a target for the cells where the brain's architecture is well defined and the cells would have a good chance to integrate into the circuitry: the mouse hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain in which memories are formed, organized and stored.

Here's what it looked like:



Man, I may need a dimmer switch for my brain... to modulate the fear.

Or... what am I saying? Hooray for the University of Wisconsin, and onward to treating Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's diseases.

IN THE COMMENTS: Ignorance is Bliss said: "She tried to warn you, but would you listen?"