Pulsing light silences overactive neurons

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MIT is spelled out by neuronal voltage with yellow light inducing downward neural deflections and blue light inducing upward neural deflections. Such unprecedented precise programming of neuronal activity is now possible due to efforts of MIT scienti ...
MIT is spelled out by neuronal voltage, with yellow light inducing downward neural deflections, and blue light inducing upward neural deflections. Such unprecedented, precise programming of neuronal activity is now possible due to efforts of MIT scientists. Image courtesy / MIT Media Lab

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.


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