MIT Shows How to Shut Down Brain With Light

An anonymous reader writes "The MIT home-page story today is about a way to use light to shut down brain activity. "Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light, offering the prospect of controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease."

There are easier ways

[joe_cot]

There are easier ways to shut down brain activity. 4chan comes to mind.

Who wants to bet...

[Anonymous Coward]

...that this is actually a plan to invent the Neuralizer from Men in Black?

Finally!

[Steve--Balllmer]

... a scientific reason why we /.ers should not leave the darkness of our parents' basements and our computer monitors, and continue to avoid the dreaded realm known as "outside".

does it come in an ale?

[User 956]

The MIT home-page story today is about a way to use light to shut down brain activity.

Well, I guess that's cheaper than alcohol.

Politics

[nagora]

Expect to see a lot of yellow lights at party rallies from now on...

Makes sense

[gaderael]

Considering certain patterns of light, as found in some video games, for example, have the ability to bring about seizures and people the suffer from Epilepsy, it makes sanse that certain patterns of light would also be able to reverse that effect.

I know this technique

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called Family Vacation Slideshow.

Hooray!

[mikkelm]

Finally I can get a pair of tinfoil shades to go with my hat.

is it a tv?

[Anonymous Coward]

otherwise known as a boobtube....

Re:There are easier ways

[drwiii]

Rule 1 violation.

I, for one...

[bwd234]

welcome our new yellow light emitting overlords!

Damn yellowish incandescents.

[SeaFox]

Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light

Yet another reason CFLs are better!

Another ,,,

[BlueTrin]

Another sexist topic about blonde girls !

Tin foil glasses

[Eudial]

Think of the applications! Time to get a pair of them tin foil glasses to accompany the hat.

Hal Jordan unavailable for comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't believe you missed the follow up article:

OA (Reuters) - The Guardians of the Universe held a press conference today after scientists in the MIT Media Lab announced that neural activity could be suppressed through the usage of yellow light.

Spokesperson Tom Kalmaku stated, "It's charming to see that the scientists in Sector 2814 have finally caught on to something the rest of the Galaxy has known for the better part of the past three billion years. The Corps have had to deal with the effects of yellow light since it's inception. It's a very powerful frequency in the spectrum and is difficult to counteract."

Oa's Central Power Battery has been vulnerable to the effects of yellow for some time now and the Guardians have no means of defending against it. "In the past, we tried dipping the thing in a thin, transparent blue polymer once but it didn't seem to help any." said Kilowog when prompted on the subject.

MIT is very pleased with the discovery, but currently has no means available to implement this to the benefit of epileptics and Michael J. Fox.

Additionally, an anonymous follower of Dinshah P. Ghadiali's alternative Color Therapy medical techniques was also unimpressed by the news and simply stated, "Colored light? Effect the body? Duh!"

When contacted for comment, Hal Jordan was unavailable.

Re:It's about brain implants for research purposes

[ogma]

"This study is great ... instead of operating on 1000's of rabbits ... they can do heaps of studies on just one rabbit"

Unless you're that one rabbit!

Re:It's about brain implants for research purposes

[bobscealy]

Did anyone read TFA?

You ain't from round here, are you boy?

belonging

[Stooshie]

All your neuron are belong to us!

If yellow light shuts down brain cells...

[SethHoyt]

Could this explain why when a traffic light turns yellow, nobody seems to notice it?

We already knew this

[TomatoMan]

TV has been shutting all of our brains down for decades.

Re:Slight problem with their idea...

[ijakings]

Oh dear, you violated one of the most sacred of all troll posts. How can you profit sequence without the ???'s?! its the ??? that makes it funny. Observe: 1) Invent a device to stab trolls in the face through the internet 2) ??? 3) Profit! Its just that easy.

Re:Who wants to bet...

[mrjatsun]

***** FLASH *****

Nothing to see here, please move along to the next topic..

Re:Makes sense

[Shrubber]

Considering certain patterns of falling boulders, as found on some mountains, for example, have the ability to bring death and people the suffer from Epilepsy (sic!). it makes sanse that certain patterns of falling boulders would also be able to reverse that effect.

Obviously. It's already been proven in cartoons time and time again that if something falling on your head causes amnesia or a personality change that additional impact to your head will cure it. In the case of personality change you may need to apply such force several times as you may simply trigger alternate personalities instead, but you can repeat until satisfied.

Re:There are easier ways

[Anonymous Coward]

FORTRAN?

Works on drivers

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

Yellow light shuts down brain activity in the drivers here in Nevada quite well.

Makes them forget that a yellow light means "go slow", not "go really really really fast".

Re:There are easier ways

[Anonymous Coward]

Rules 1, 2 and 3, namefags! Anonymous does not forgive!