Using Magnets To Turn Off the Brain's Speech Center

An editor for the Telegraph, Roger Highfield, recently volunteered to allow a UK researcher to shut off the speech center of his brain with a high-powered magnetic pulse. Regular speech is controlled by a section of the brain called Broca's area. Once the precise location is determined in the subject, a magnetic pulse can temporarily disrupt speech without impairing other cognitive functions. The link contains a video in which you can watch Highfield stutter and twitch while attempting to recite a nursery rhyme. A later test shows that he's able to sing the rhyme without difficulty, since singing is controlled in a different part of the brain (as you may remember from Scott Adams' speech disorder). Researchers believe that the ability to stimulate or quell activity in specific areas of the brain may help in treating conditions like epilepsy and migraine headaches.

My wife

[Anonymous Coward]

needs a zappie!

seen the video...

[zr-rifle]

pff... real networks have been doing this stuttering thing since 1995.

So its magnets....

[coren2000]

... that take away my speech centers when I meet a pretty girl.

..........? (silence)

[freeasinrealale]

shouldn't it be from the bzzt-ow-bzzt-ow-bzzzzzzzt-........ dept?

Yes

[antifoidulus]

but can they make you sing folk songs?

Re:Courage...

[maxume]

What makes you think they will hear your objections?

Re:I wonder...

[Free_Meson]

Is it only me, or do you see a potential weapons application for this in the future?

If your goal is to indiscriminately impair critical brain functions, a gun would be much more cost-effective.

Re:My wife

[Deadfyre_Deadsoul]

Next, they will make a super big magnet in space and be able to make an entire continent shut up....

AMOS Professional, what an oxymoron that was :)

[Dogtanian]

I code in AMOS!!!

The research also showed that magnets- such as inappropriately placed subwoofers on PC systems- could also suppress the part of the brain responsible for programming skills.

Too late.....

[Stanislav_J]

If only this had been developed 20 years ago, I'd still be married. (I'd have ordered two right off the bat -- one for her and one for her mother.....)

Re:So its magnets....

[CrazedWalrus]

Perhaps she has a magnetic personality, then?

Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm speechless!

Re:So its magnets....

[Jesus_666]

Try singing; that should work.

TV magnets

[dargaud]

And the magnets prevent in TVs can take the entire brain out. What a surprise !

Re:My wife

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, every man has a special tool to turn off the speech center of a woman's face. Works like a key. Just insert and voila. Instant peace and quiet.

Re:My wife

[omeomi]

Next, they will make a super big magnet in space and be able to make an entire continent shut up....

Then I won't look so silly in my tin-foil hat, now will I?

Social Engineering...?

[jxliv7]

So here I was, speedreading through /., and the scientific suggestion of

"Using Maggots To Turn Off The Brain's Speech Center"

snatched my Sunday morning mind's attention like a zombie. Litereally. So, is there something here I'm missing? Like how does one direct those blood suckers to the speech center of a brain, assuming it's not major surgery to introduce them? And why...? Is DARPA going over to the dark side in the fight against terrorists?
 
Alas, after 15 second of grimacing and beweilderment I realized my sleep-hazed eyes were misreading.
 
Dang, I hope I didn't give some royalty fee collection company another bad idea to file a patent for...

Re:I wonder...

[ColdWetDog]

I'd have to think that forensics units would have a harder time tracking down the person who fired an EM pulse. They've gotten pretty good at matching bullets to guns.

I would have to think that it would not take much in the way of forensic aptitude to track down the person(s) manipulating the giant magnetic coil next to the guys head.

And does anyone think that there is something a bit odd about the assistant's name being "Muggleton"?

Mr. Anderson...

[slimjim8094]

what use is a phone call if you are ... unable ... to ... speak?

OK, guys. This needs to be explained

[hey!]

You're making the classic engineering mistake: mis-defining the problem.

Disrupting the speech centers of the brain does not preempt attempts at communications. And you need communication; it's just that men, left to themselves, would communicate by passing terse status messages: "I'm hungry"; "I'm angry"; "I'm going to sleep"; "I want sex."

Women send the same status messages, but they seem to gain satisfaction out of the process itself. Therefore they send messages in steganographic form: the basis status messages are there, wrapped all kinds of other data which do not require your immediate action. It pays to pay at least some attention; she may start an "I want sex" status message by telling you that her sister's neighbor's aunt is going in for a gall stone operation.

The wise man knows that he should celebrate the differences between the sexes if he wants to celebrate the difference between the sexes.

Therefore, it is best to cultivate the skill of appearing mildly interested and engaged, making reflexive, non-committal listening responses, and paying just enough attention to pick out any cues that indicate something that requires immediate action. It's a lot like driving, actually. You get that sixth sense for when somebody is going to cut you off, or roll into an intersection without coming to a stop. It's not magic, it's practice.

Re:My wife

[gbjbaanb]

nope, its because as soon as you start watching the football, she discovers how incredibly boring it is, and turns the the first thing she finds most interesting: how you 'feel'.

Similarly, when you and your wife find yourselves with a spare moment, and she starts to talk about your relationship, you find it incredibly boring and turn to the thing you find most interesting: what's on the TV.

In other news...

[Arcanlaw]

In other news, it was revealed President Bush has been wearing a toupe for years to hide an area of partial baldness. "I love it!" Mr. Bush exclaimed. "I found this great place that uses rare earth magnets to keep 'em on your head. Real convenient like."

Re:My wife

[Sponge Bath]

...ground it with a wire

I now have a mental image of a paranoid nerd tethered to a point like a dog in a yard. Instead of barking at passers by, he babbles about faked moon landings and Monty Python sketches.

Re:My wife

[Original Replica]

You stick your credit card in your wife's mouth? ... That's just weird.

I marvel

[Scrameustache]

I wonder what would happen if the magnetic pulses were applied to more important sections of the brain, such as the area that controls autonomous bodily functions, like the heart. I suppose, if it is capable of knocking out the area of the brain that controls speech, it should be capable of knocking out the section of the brain that controls other, critical bodily functions.

Is it only me, or do you see a potential weapons application for this in the future?

With the proper mastery of magnetism and the human mind, a team could build, in a helmet, an amplifier device that could be used by a trained professional to target individuals precisely, anywhere in the world.
I'd call this contraption... "Cerebro".

through the ear canal, of course

[Scrameustache]

how does one direct those blood suckers to the speech center of a brain

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

Re: (silence)

[noidentity]

So they gave him instructions before they started, "If you start to feel pain, tell us to stop. OK, now we're going to disrupt your speech center."

Re:My wife

[Tychon]

What's weird is that she spits out receipts.

Re:My wife

[cayenne8]

"I got one to admit it once (a co worker), she said she did it to feel "special" by commandeering the attention of her boyfriend when he was fixated on something else."

And that my friend, is another reason to never get married. She starts pulling shit like that...you kick her to the road and find a new 'model' that won't bother you like that with petty games. If you're not married...you don't lose half your shit either....

:-)

Re:In other news...

[rrohbeck]

The toupe hides the door for the Bush pilot. [google.com]

Re:OK, guys. This needs to be explained

[Anonymous Coward]

...the basis status messages are there, wrapped all kinds of other data which do not require your immediate action.

So... you're saying women transmit XML? I guess that sounds about right.

Re:My wife

[jasonjacks0n]

Then I won't look so silly in my tin-foil hat, now will I?

Of course you will. But at least nobody will be able to say so.

:)

Re:OK, guys. This needs to be explained

[fractoid]

...but she doesn't bring her sister, her sister's neighbour or gall stones into the request.

Damn, just when things were starting to turn kinky... ;)