Credit: Andrew Lee/COSMOS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA in San Diego, researcher Mark Tuszynski and his colleagues have been studying the use of genetically modified neurons in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In 2001, the scientists implanted neurons carrying extra copies of a gene that codes for nerve growth factor, or NGF, into the brains of patients.
NGF is a brain chemical that triggers the growth of neurons. In patients with NGF-enhanced neurons, Tuszynski has seen a marked reduction in the progress of Alzheimer's.
The advancement of the disease was slowed by a factor of three — making it one of the most promising treatment options in development.
Tuszynski's research may have more than therapeutic applications, however. Another study at the University of Rochester in New York has shown that NGF gene therapy can give mice better than normal memory.
If the same holds true in humans, the technique being explored as a treatment for disease could also be used to improve the normal functioning of human minds.
Other memory researchers have found similar results. Nobel
Prize-winner Eric Kandel, who did some of the pioneering work on the neural basis of memory, is working on drugs to treat Alzheimer's and Age-Associated Memory Impairment that also boost memory beyond normal levels in rats and mice.
At Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in New York, researcher Tim Tully has found similar results with drugs that target the same pathways. The mice in Tully and Kandel's experiments can frequently learn things twice as quickly — and at times as much as five times as quickly — as normal mice.
"Memory enhancers could become 'lifestyle' drugs to be used by anyone interested in learning a second language, in playing a musical instrument, or in studying for an exam," Tully speculates.
And the potential isn't limited to memory. U.S. military researchers have long sought drugs that could reliably keep pilots and soldiers awake without major downsides. Relatively new drugs like Modafinil (Provigil), which is generally prescribed to treat narcolepsy, may fit the bill.
Other researchers have identifi ed genes that affect our tolerance for pain, our degree of risk-taking behaviour, aspects of creativity, even the extent to which we bond monogamously with our partners or, conversely, pursue extra-marital flings.
All of these genes are now potential targets for drugs — drugs that could alter our relationships, our personalities and our mental capabilities.
The potential for enhancing or altering our minds has sparked an ethical debate. Should we employ pharmaceuticals and genetic techniques to push the human mind beyond its normal limits? To resculpt our personalities? Or would that cause more harm than benefit?
Hmmm.
Imagine the gene-modifying drugs were available for pets in the near future. How would my dog's behavior change if it could learn up to five times faster? Or could we perhaps speed up the "evolution" of a species, for example a type of monkey, so that we could get them onto sign language :) I think we have some big moral hurdles ahead of us - however I don't think they would be erected by the scientific community.
Uh Oh
"Smarter, faster- learning doctors, engineers and scientists would be able to produce better products, deliver improved medical care and unravel the secrets of our world more quickly — they would grow our economies more rapidly, and ultimately better our lives."
^ These things happen naturally. How do you think humans have come as far as we have?
In an ideal world, I would say only allow the sick and injured access to these drugs, but it would never stay that way.
And what would happen, if, say, a Hitler-like figure got a hold of something like this? I suppose if all of his peers also had access, it would put him no farther ahead of them than before...but...still...
WOW
WITH THE ADVANCEMENT IN GM NUORONS ,A HUMAN WILL BE ALL IN ALL IN ITSELF.A SINGLE PERSON CAN PERFOM MULTI-DIMENTIONAL FUNCTIONS.AT A TIME HE CAN PERFORM ON EVERY STAGE OF LIFE, WHAT EVER HE WANTS.WHO CAN PAY FOR THESE MENTAL ENHANCERS, HE CAN GET EVERYTHING IN HIS LIFE.BUT WHERE WILL BE THE ACTUAL PERSONALITY OF A PERSON? AND WHERE A HUMAN MIND CAN GET HIS RESTING PLACE?
Something for nothing?
It seems unlikely to me that long-term use of these memory enhancing drugs will be found to be without harm.
Increasing one thing often comes at a cost to another, and this appears to be as true of the brain as of anything else. Take, for example, the extraordinarily high rates of mental illness in geniuses.
While it undoubtedly will be possible to enhance intelligence eventually, it likely will require a much deeper understanding of the brain than we currently have. A free lunch seems unlikely when it comes to toying with anything as complicated as the human brain.
Great
I think it would be awesome if people could push their minds to the limit to enhance scientific discoveries and drive the human race into the future. I support these brain-enhancement methods.