Optogenetics: Using Light to Control Your Brain
Optogenetics may allow us to use light like a remote control for our brains, and treat diseases like retinitis pigmentosa. Hosted by: Stefan Chin ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron...
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[♪♩INTRO] Imagine being able to remote control your cat. By clicking a remote at a receiver on your beloved kitty’s head, you could make it walk, turn in circles, or even stop moving altogether. Maybe, with the press of a button, you could even put it to sleep or turn off its sense of pain when it hurt itself. And even weirder, what if you could control your own body that way? Well, there’s a scientific technique that might someday deliver just that. It’s called optogenetics, and it’s a method for controlling the function of cells using light. Even though it sounds a lot like mind control, optogenetics is really most useful for learning what specific cells do, or for treating certain conditions. It does this by using light to control certa...
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[♪♩INTRO] Imagine being able to remote control your cat. By clicking a remote at a receiver on your beloved kitty’s head, you could make it walk, turn in circles, or even stop moving altogether. Maybe, with the press of a button, you could even put it to sleep or turn off its sense of pain when it hurt itself. And even weirder, what if you could control your own body that way? Well, there’s a scientific technique that might someday deliver just that. It’s called optogenetics, and it’s a method for controlling the function of cells using light. Even though it sounds a lot like mind control, optogenetics is really most useful for learning what specific cells do, or for treating certain conditions. It does this by using light to control certa...
