Healing Powers
Imagine you had the power to heal your body using only your mind. You’ve seen it in fantasy but it has rarely been mentioned in science fiction with the exception of force healing in Star Wars. It just doesn’t seem plausible enough for sci-fi. Well, we might be wrong on that one. A team of bioengineers in Switzerland may have uncovered the means for an individual to heal without the need for a trip to the hospital.
The experiment involved the use of brain activity to activate mechanisms at the cellular level within the body. The research group started with a typical brain-computer interface, commonly used to help amputees operate their new prosthetic limbs. This technology is very new and exciting in its own right. They took it a step further, introducing a new method of triggering protein production inside human cells using an electromagnetic field. Experiments involved mostly luminescent proteins, or the ability to make cells glow but the concept may be applicable to other important biological activities inside and outside the cell.
Protein interaction is important in numerous therapeutic areas including cancer. Drugs called kinase inhibitors block protein kinase activity, disrupting processes that help tumors grow and metastasize. The biological processes involving protein kinases affect numerous activities, which may be the key to treating a number of serious diseases. If we are able to manipulate protein production, kinases, or other more intricate mechanisms, we may be able to heal wounds with our own thoughts.
Of course,detecting and translating brain activity is not like reading minds. We currently have only the most rudimentary means of detecting brain activity and translating it into action. The researchers had test subjects play Minecraft or meditate in order to stimulate the electromagnetic fields. The subjects weren’t “thinking” about producing the proteins. It is the most primitive brain-gene interface at this stage. The level of concentration and focus to alter cellular mechanisms may be enormous, beyond the abilities of regular people.
The Star Wars movies hinted at the ability of Jedi to use the force to manipulate their own biochemistry. The mention of Midichlorians as the means of manipulating the Force suggests a molecular organic basis for a Jedi’s power. The expanded universe acknowledges a Jedi’s ability to heal herself or even drain the life force from another. Such an ability would be indistinguishable from the magic and witchcraft of countless fairy tales and horror stories.
As Clarke’s famous law states: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Maybe the future will be an age of magic.
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