Whatever antiutopija picture did not draw us kiberpank-works, it must be admitted that the various kinds of implants can help people regain not only lost limbs, but even feel. For example, recently a group of researchers from the University medical center in göttingen have established augumentati to restore auditory sensations. Moreover, it uses a different source of feelings — light.
In fact, if you look, only one implant in this case was not limited. For starters, the experts at the genetic level have changed the neurons of the organ of hearing to those “retrained” on the perception of another stimulus. To this end the DNA of the cells was introduced a virus that changed them so that they began to perceive the light instead of the auditory vibrations. After that, the ear is already fitted implant, containing in its composition fiber. Aroused, the optical fibers transmit the signal to the changed cells, they capture and the conducting paths are passed to the brain. In fact it turns out that there is a replacement of one stimulus to other, but the work of the analyzer is unchanged.
At the moment scientists have conducted a series of experiments on snails. The animals were deaf and received a cochlear implant. Then they began to respond to the sound as well as their healthy relatives. Moreover, experts argue that the properties of the fiber sufficient to efficiently transmit a signal even in a noisy environment. Project Manager Tobias Moser calls his work with optogenetics and says that this science has a great future.
“With optogenetics you can create different types of auditory neurons, and even to selectively control their activation. This will allow you to pass more detailed information to the brain. However, the technology is still not fully understood and we are not sure what sounds allows you to hear implant, so now we want to test a new technique on primates.”
Created implants that restores hearing
Vladimir Kuznetsov