Move all memories from one person's brain to another

In a science fiction movie released July 10 in the United States, a man with cancer has recovered from turning all his thoughts and consciousness into a healthy body. In fact, this is also a topic researched by neuroscience scientists.

Transfer memories from one person's brain to another

Recent science has achieved some achievements in understanding and controlling the brain like hearing and even changing complex activities in the brain. A light brain exploration method was also developed, used to transplant or erase mouse memories . However, to be able to move the whole consciousness to a new body, there are many problems.

Firstly, each person's brain is different."It's not just about transmitting memories, but moving the mind," said Wolfgang Fink, a neuroscience and robot scientist, Arizona University with Business Insider.

Everyone has a different nerve " hardware ", not as simple as copying data from one computer to another. Scientists have developed a computer system that simulates " human hardware" , called artificial neural networks. This system can switch between two different "hardware ", like a person with two personalities. However, this is just a computer simulation, not yet able to reproduce on humans.

Secondly, it is not possible to implant memories on people. Recently, with the method of optogenetics , scientists have been able to control brain activity. A harmless virus (containing DNA in glowing algae) is implanted into brain neurons, activating the brain to produce a protein that makes brain cells respond to light.

The experiment to install memories into the brain of mice was successful.(Photo: Flickr / Global Pandora)

By projecting a laser into the cell, scientists can turn the cell on and off at will. The 2013 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists used this method to create fake memories for mice. They put mice in the lab, causing a slight shock in the legs, creating fearful memories in the hippocampus brain region in mice.

Then they put them in a new place. Projecting a beam of light that activates the neuron encodes shock memories, causing the mouse to feel that it is in shock, even if it does not happen.

MIT scientists took another step in June, experimenting with happy memories in depressed mice. The depressed rats lost their appetite when drinking sugar water, or their tails always drooped sadly. However, when illuminating neurons that store happy memories (like when they are having sex with their partners), the rats get depressed.

However, this is just transplanting simple memories , transferring one's thoughts and memories to another brain is another matter. There is another way, instead of transmitting the mind to the new mind, people put heads into new bodies , Fink said.

Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero announced that he will conduct the world's first human head transplant in 2017. While Fink judged, the transplant will be on schedule, other critics will give That, there are many obstacles to face.

The new body's immune system may eliminate the head, or vice versa, the head rejects the transplant organ. In addition, the patient's spinal cord is severely cut, which can cause paralysis after paralysis.

Dr. Canavero believes that he can overcome this problem, by using a very sharp knife to cut nerves, after transplanting to a new body these cuts will be able to recover, though However, this is only a theory. In fact, scientists have tried to graft monkey heads, but the animals after transplanting only live for a few days.