Body Rhymes
A foot senses a crack in the sidewalk and the brain instructs the muscles to compensate so the person doesn’t fall down. Within the body, when cells detect too much carbon dioxide, the lungs respond by taking a breath. To get the right response, neurons, or nerve cells, communicate by emitting electrical impulses that are picked up by other neurons.
Researchers are finding that measuring these electrical impulses can reveal the presence of disease. Recent studies have shown that children with autism have significantly different brain-wave patterns than children without the disorder. Other studies have found that brain waves in people with epilepsy behave differently shortly before a seizure.
Source: Shirley S. Wang in the WSJ.
It’s amazing that our brain can sense things that we have no conscious experience of.
I’m curious as to what they have found out about the brain waves of autistic people. How do they respond differently to their enviroments?
Sounds like a useful addition to Google’s soon-to-be legendary glasses.
I wonder how far they will be able to take electrical impulse measuring to determine the presence of diseases. Will this soon be the new way to detect all diseases?
Death is often preceded by falls that cause brain damage or merely inhibit mobility. Helping keep seniors steady on their feet would reduce falls that send many of them to the hospital, confine them to wheelchairs and force them to spend the remainder of their lives in nursing homes.
I also find the notion that we could one day measure brain activity on the days when we feel down in the dumps, or feel like we are walking around in a fog. Does our brain activity also reflect this? Probably!
Interesting point, Alexis.