#brain-hacking

As neuroscientists continue to conduct brain stimulation experiments, publish results in journals and hold conferences, the D.I.Y. practitioners have remained quiet downstream listeners, blogging about scientists’ experiments, posting unrestricted versions of journal articles and linking to videos of conference talks. Some practitioners create their own manuals and guides based on published papers. The growth of D.I.Y. brain stimulation stems in part from a larger frustration with the exclusionary institutions of modern medicine, such as the exorbitant price of pharmaceuticals and the glacial pace at which new therapies trickle down to patients. For people without an institutional affiliation, even reading a journal article can be prohibitively expensive. The open letter this month is about safety. But it is also a recognition that these D.I.Y. practitioners are here to stay, at least for the time being. While the letter does not condone, neither does it condemn. It sticks to the facts and eschews paternalistic tones in favor of measured ones. The letter is the first instance I’m aware of in which scientists have directly addressed these D.I.Y. users. Though not quite an olive branch, it is a commendable step forward, one that demonstrates an awareness of a community of scientifically involved citizens.

We now know that if you take the same subject and do tDCS with exactly the same settings on different days, they can have very different responses. We know there's a huge amount that can actually change what effect tDCS has. What you’re doing at the time tDCS is administered, or before tDCS is administered, has an effect. There are so many different things that can have an effect -- your age, your gender, your hormones, whether you drank coffee that morning, whether you've had exposure to brain stimulation previously, your baseline neurotransmitter level — all of this stuff can affect what tDCS does to your brain. And some of those things vary on a day-to-day basis.

Bobby McFerrin - Brain Hacking

I've long admired Bobby McFerrin.  First, for arguably the biggest hit of the 80s.  Second, he served as Creative Chair of, my homestate's, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.  Third, for the video I'm sharing with you today, where he demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus", from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009 (most of the words in this sentence and after the second link in the paragraph below are taken directly from the description of this video on the first site linked to in that paragraph).  It's pretty interesting viewing.

You can get right to the meat of the video here, or go here to view the full event video if you'd like to see more of Bobby McFerrin and the science behind the program.