Injectable brain gel may save soldiers' lives, zombify them, or both
By Vlad Savov 
posted September 7th 2009 7:29AM
posted September 7th 2009 7:29AM
[Via Digg]
posted September 7th 2009 7:29AM
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start wearing purple
And the lab rats got traumatic brain injury how exactly...?
The method by which traumatic brain injury was produced in the rats depends entirely on the experimental conditions. These conditions, of course, are determined by the type of brain injury the scientists are hoping to mitigate.
Often, a heat probe is used to cause a lesion on a particular area of the brain. While this model is effective for attempting to determine what a particular area of the brain does, it is not a very good representation of the sorts of brain injuries often encountered by humans.
Some novel ways of causing traumatic brain injury in rats (injuries that more closely resemble those that frequently occur in humans) are really interesting. A group of scientists studying traumatic brain injury caused by shock waves propagating through brain tissue (which is a phenomenon associated with bullet penetrations, blunt trauma and high impact accidents) recreated this effect by detonating silver azide crystals inside rat skulls using lasers (crazy!).
Another model involves creating a rapid increase in intra-cranial pressure by injecting a large amount of saline into the cranial cavity. This is an excellent model for understanding how brain injury can occur as a result of increased fluid in the brain (which can be caused by a burst vessel or a fluid reuptake problem).
If you would like to learn more, check out the last link I posted. There are over 1600 studies that have used some form of traumatic brain injury and rats to try and understand the process (and help humans to overcome it).
More likely than not, you were attempting to elicit some sort of sympathy that you hope I feel towards these rats. Unfortunately, I don't have much. While I am grateful to the rats who have given their lives in order to help scientists understand the process of brain injury, I firmly believe that the sacrifice was well worth it. I also think that anyone who has had a stroke or traumatic brain injury in the last 20 years will agree with me. By studying this potentially debilitating injury, we can hope to mitigate, and someday even reverse, its effects. This, in my mind, is a goal worthy of study. If you can think of a way to do it that doesn't involve studying actual brain injuries, I'm all ears.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m51300t01140x313/
http://www.be-md.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2761692
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&term=traumatic%20brain%20injury%20rat%20model&log$=related_query
now you can call me "gelly brained"
or would that be jelly brained?
i prefer jam
He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker.
LMAO
Well...naturally.
What knockers! Oh, thank you doctor.
As long as it's approved by Abbey Normal...
Universal Soldier anyone?
it's always nice to see science doing some good!
unlike this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3shDensDI
and while I know it's tongue in cheek, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of scientists are concentrating on something very similar.
Dr. Fronkenshteeeeen: "Igor, can you help me with the bags?"
Igor: "Sure, you take the blond, and I'll take the one in the turban."
one step closer to sylar
Heroes FTW.
I was thinking Bioshock.
I'm assuming you would have to relearn functions and memories, but it's better than nothing I suppose.
Let's see a video of any member of engadget doing at least five push-ups.
If it comes to the "zed" word, at least we know how to deal with them. We have plenty of documentaries, and we've been training a long time for this. Gear up!
Oh shit we are fu*ked...
Hi,
How do I post my profile picture Indiana Tux on here I can't seem to find my profile.
Click on your name, your profile options, if you are signed in, are on the right side. Choose Edit Picture. It does not always show up. And mine took a SHIT LOAD long to appear, give it time if you have already done this
Did thomeone thay Igorth, thir
Yeth sir
Nice igor reference Vlad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_%28Discworld%29
OH MY GOD....
my worst nightmare.. turns out that George A ROmero WAS right... we are sooooo doomed...
...And then they become psychic!
Not for civilians, then?
I wonder if it could be used to treat Alzheimer's or to make people smarter.
Then the internet wouldn't be as fun.
Referring to the smart part, of course, curing Alzheimer's would be awesome.
Its use outside "injury", or at least this as a first step, is what really interests me. I had to mentally check if it was 4/1 when I saw this (long weekend indeed). Does anybody find the idea that this might work, and could be used in 3 years, absolutely incredible?
I was reading today about one of the life extension guys, and have of course been fascinated by Ray Kurzweil for some time. As much as the logic makes sense to me, I'm aware that the leap of faith for these ideas is helped in no small part by wishful thinking. However, regenerating damaged parts of the brain, while still some distance from, say, sustaining brain tissue with current memory and structure, is still quite a feat. If you asked me before I read this how long it would be before we had a jelly that could be injected in somebody's brain that would induce the stem cells to regenerate damaged portions, I'd say somewhere between 50 and eleventeen-hundred years. Yet its 3 (ish). Who knew?
I doubt that the technology would be able to increase intelligence, at least not without a much better understanding of the underlying neural structures that lead to increased intelligence. My bet is that if you were to just start injecting tons of this stuff into a healthy brain you'd be more likely to develop a tumor than anything else, but then again I'm a computer scientist, not a neurosurgeon.
I do have to say though that the three year mark seems optimisitic given that they're still just at the rat stage. I can understand why there would be a lot of enthusiasm to get this out into the world at large, given it's potential in treating strokes, paralysis, and a plethora of other conditions generally considered to be non-treatable, but doesn't it generally take a bit longer to go from successful tests on lab rats to being used in the field?
Frau Blucher!
yes to the Young Frankenstein picture... just YES
Most of these brain injuries happen in car accidents, not in wars, I'd guess 95% or more.
So one good thing about the war or whatever the americans are calling it now, more money to medical reserch of injuries. If injuries start to cut into new recruits there's a need to research better cures and this is the reason for this money. I'll hope them good luck with the research, as there's a real, even bigger than military, need on the civilian side too for this.
These advancements are the ONLY good things about war.
"These advancements are the ONLY good things about war."
Yeah, ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism were bad things.
Hmm, communism was ended(?!?) with a war?!?
I must have slepped through that. So no more communists in north korea, or china, or cuba? I'll go and buy some beach front property in cuba then, name it Hotel Fidel for american tourists, or Hotel Hemmingway might be more palatable for them.
Doctor: We can perform the operation for you. It can greatly increase your brain power. Or it may kill you.
Homer: Hmm, increase my killing power, eh? I'll do it!
very cool.
He's a dapper dan man.
Damn, we're in a tight spot!
Firstly rats, then the US soldiers... *pause* o_O ... then the rest of the population.
Then you can store the leftover gel in bags, and use it to inexplicably speed up the performance of your wayward starship's main computer!
I hope it works: Our young men and women deserve the best care in the world.
"ok now hold still while I inject some goo into your brain" YEAH RIGHT, I don't think so.
How do they stop it from growing ? what does the gel due to a non-injured brain ?
Might be a good hangover cure though ?
Hahaha this is just like the Nazi Zombie campaign in "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" D20 game fo' life.
Verrrrrry Innnnteressstingggg.
Could be helpful for Humans.
But hitting a mouse in the head with a really small hammer, not my cupa java.
As for Tux: Linux!, Linux!, Linux!
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