Mice
turn into killers when brain circuit is triggered by laser!
In the 1962
Hollywood film, The
Manchurian Candidate, Laurence Harvey plays the
role of the son of a prominent right-wing political family, who
becomes an unwitting assassin through brainwashing, in an
international communist conspiracy. The film was released in the
United States on October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile
Crisis. [1]
Almost a
decade earlier, the now known project MKUltra begun by the CIA,
sometimes referred to as the CIA's mind control program. MKUltra is
the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects, at
times illegal, designed and undertaken by the United States Central
Intelligence Agency. Experiments on humans were intended to identify
and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and
torture, in order to weaken the individual to force confessions
through mind control. Organized through the Scientific Intelligence
Division of the CIA, the project coordinated with the Special
Operations Division of the U.S. Army's Chemical Corps. [2]
Although
that some information regarding MKUltra was declassified since 2001,
we can't know, of course, how far CIA or other agencies have gone
with similar projects.
For example,
although the CIA insists that MKUltra-type experiments have been
abandoned, some CIA observers say there is little reason to believe
it does not continue today under a different set of acronyms. Victor
Marchetti, author and 14-year CIA veteran, stated in various
interviews that the CIA routinely conducted disinformation campaigns
and that CIA mind control research continued. [2]
Despite that
MKUltra was created for the purpose of 'effective' interrogation and
torture, the project has inspired many films and conspiracy theories
that go beyond this function. As in the film described above,
brainwashing and mind control could create a zombie-like assassin who
could be programmed to kill specific targets, at the will of those
who control him.
But now, a
recent scientific discovery may trigger the appetite of some dark
minds in the intelligence community, to create such a type of
well-programmed assassins!
Researchers
at Yale University have discovered that two sets of neurons in the
mouse brain underpin the instinct to kill. One coordinates the
pursuit of prey, while the other controls the neck and jaw muscles
used for biting. Both are in the amygdala – the part of the brain
involved in motivation, emotion and fear. Furthermore, by modifying
these neurons so they could be activated by laser light, a technique
called optogenetics, the team of scientists were able to switch these
circuits on whenever they wanted. When the laser was off, the mice
padded around their cages normally. But turning the laser on caused
the mice to suddenly launch frenzied attacks on almost anything in
their path: live crickets, fake insects or even sticks and bottle
caps. After jumping on the “prey”, the mice grabbed it with their
paws and repeatedly sunk in their teeth. [3]
Of course,
the human brain is far more complicated and humans have evolved
beyond their primitive instincts, in contrast with mice. Yet, under
extreme conditions, human instincts are coming on surface. So far,
from what we know, such CIA experiments have only led to multiple
disorders for the people that have been used as experimental
subjects.
Yet, as the
progress towards the mapping of human brain will give increasingly
better understanding of its functions, such discoveries as the one
described, may revive the most advanced and nightmarish versions of
evil projects like MKUltra.
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