How to turn a brain on and off at will

• Autores: Helen Thomson
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3052-3053, 2015, pág. 10
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A unique study has found out how the brain switches between waking and unconsciousness. Now that people know which brain pathways control whether someone is awake or not, they may be able to rouse people from an unconscious state. In 2007, researchers used deep brain stimulation to wake a man from a minimally conscious state. It was quite remarkable, recalls Tin Lee at Stanford University in California. Before treatment he was unable to communicate and had no voluntary control over his limbs. When doctors stimulated his thalamus--a hub that sends signals all around the brain--his speech and movement gradually returned.