“Now there’s no doubt that it’s easy for the mammalian brain, even in adulthood, to adaptively use a novel, never-experienced sense, such as infrared,” says Yuji Ikegaya of the University of Tokyo in Japan.
Nicolelis’ brain interfaces will probably find their first application in the medical world, but they are part of a trend that erodes the boundary between our brain and the outside world. Human beings already implant sensors and chips in their flesh, and although implanting in the brain is dangerous, the benefits may outweigh the risks someday.
“Is it safe, and are these capabilities we necessarily want to develop?” asks Filippa Lentzos of King’s College London. “Could it be abused by the military, to enhance battlefield performance or degrade enemy performance?”
But Lentzos points out that implants such as hearing aids are widely offered to patients. “We do a lot of this already, so whether completely new senses would be acceptable is a very interesting debate.”
This article appeared in print under the headline “Making senses”