Thursday, May 24, 2007

Prosthetic Senses

here's an interesting article on the wired website about prosthetic senses. it's interesting to think that humans have only five senses though other animals have many other senses. the article touches on the idea of sensing electromagnetic fields, ultrasound, infrared light and other things. the idea is to take these things that we cannot sense and turning it into something that the brain can comprehend. our brains will actually remap themselves.
a few tests done that the artcicle goes over is one guy that wears a belt that detects which way north is and makes a vibration in the given direction. it took a few days to get used to, but eventually his brain actually remapped itself and he had an enhanced senses of direction. he knew exactly where he was as all times and knew exactly which direction to go to get anywhere he wanted.
the article also notes a test done 50 years ago where a group of people wear goggles that flipped the world upside down. after a few days their brains adjusted and flipped everything back.
link

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