Power of thought. Well come to you tomorrow today with an exploration of the human brain and the world of thought. Our brains are constantly working take vision for example we see football a shot to the right. The ball is our range. Our eyes take in what we see that information is passed by the optic nerve to other parts of the brain in the form of electrical signals these signals can pass through the brains neurons at a speed of up to 120 meters a 2nd. At the connection linking one iran to another the signal has to bridge a tiny gap known as the snap to cleft before continuing on. There is no one central low. Cation the brain resources developed we think by an entire network of neurons distributed across the brain. So detecting a single thought isnt easy but computers are learning to do just that. Getting ready to play a very special computer game one that doesnt require the use of your hands a game that soley powered by your source. If it was their 1st so its really interesting to try this out for myself ive been here for hours and when i think that in 5 or 10 years time we could be turning the oven of the lights on and off at home like this its Pretty Amazing it doesnt respond is this the future weve come to the sensory motor system slap at e. T. H. Institute in 06 switzerland scientists here are studying how humans and machines can interact in a video game are connected to the monitor via a headset that can read the brains and electrical signals to those on this device consists of an electrode which is a conductor that can detect changes in frequency very well if we think about wanting to carry out a particular movement and that triggers electrical activity in the brain just small differences in frequency that can be measured by this electrode in this and. Right now the electrode can only detect 2 commands the concentration which causes the characters to speed up and relaxation which slows them down the players have to respond deliberately. When i want to concentrate i try to solve mathematics problems in my mind. Alphabet in reverse to relax ill close my eyes for a moment and try to just brief deeply sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. Technology is still quite basic but the game shows whats already possible in the realm of brain. Computer interfaces perhaps will soon be able to control our electrical devices at home just with our minds. Has a different goal for years hes been exploring how humans and machines can interact for medical purposes. For example if people with paraplegia could control this robotic exoskeleton with their thoughts they could once again become mobile. But the technology is still in its early stages these are these would have to be very reliable and safe see exoskeleton must stop for example when the patient wants it to as yet its still difficult to achieve that reliability to become a major Global Players such as facebook envision a huge market for this technology and a pumping billions into its development why if you could type directly from your brain. Instead of typing you could just sync your messages directly into your Smartphone Facebook wants to make this future vision a reality in just a few years. A kind of brain controlled typewriter already exists researches at Stanford University have developed a system whereby people can think letters into a computer this enables locked in paralyzed patients to communicate with the outside world. And eat all you need to do is a mandarin moving your right arm for example to the wider team on a keyboard or all slide out to the teeth and in addition to that were also able to detect when you wish to so what about what are you patients can type up to 40 letters a minute but in order to use the technology they have to have an electrode implanted into their brain. They also need an alphabet table to choose the letters with their eyes and. This system would not be useful as an everyday tool for people without such disabilities from your brain. And theres another major problem that stands in the way of widespread to use. One think that on people constantly think of other things so they get distracted and you might also be driving a car at that moment or walking through these processes overlap in the brain without making it almost impossible to pull a text message out of your mind as things stand right now and also it seems scientists from the university of freiburg researching how to separate the various processes going on in the brain tonio balland philip k. Meyer use e. G. Waves to make these processes visible this shows the difference between the moments of high concentration and chaotic everyday situations. Here here you can see these classic e. G. Alpha waves they appear when our test subject just closes his eyes so now ill shake your head a bit my business. Sort of then be strong waves appear. You know not spend its a hindrance if we want to get to the actual information that the brain is thinking because this disruption just stored the whole thing for months you want to come. To feel to the correct thoughts from the chaos they use a deep learning process in which the computer recognises brain activity on the basis of e. G. Wave patterns that it is already known. To teach the system these patterns test subjects are asked to repeatedly make a movement in this case raising the right arm the computer now learns that the brain wave pattern created represents the desire to move ones right arm regardless of who the end user is. The scientists have taught this robot how to recognize a specific commands. Using only his thoughts the test subject asks the robot to fetch him a drink. The robot recognizes the specific brain wave pattern and carries out the task. A reason to celebrate perhaps but the scientists are also concerned about the potential implications of their work because it can only function if machines are taught to reach new real activity data and this is very risky after all what might happen if corporations like facebook had access to the brain activity data of millions of people. When it comes if huge amounts of brain activity data were stored in one location for the benefit of learning processes it might be that more very relevant information could be gleaned for example of troop level one from you could distinguish between gender or ethnic background all things that we dont know its a moment but it would make sense to think about how to effectively protect this data before simply handing it over and consider whether such systems should even be given to consumers in. The past to brain control devices has already been paved even if they exist mainly in research and development at the moment facebook as well as other companies are in the starting blocks in the race to conquer our thoughts with technology. The human brain is likely to remain a source of fascination many of its inner workings are still a mystery but scientists have been able to debunk some of the myths surrounding the brain. One involves. A dios mozart who lived from 17. 56 to 791 a study from the 1990 s. Claim that listening to his music could make you smile especially his analysis for 2 pianos in team a chance. At gun it huge Public Interest and became known as the mozart effect but the results of the study could never be reproduced the mozart effect is a myth. Still music that we enjoy can stimulate the brain and have a positive effect on us. One of our viewers in the rock have asked about another commonly held misconception concerning the brain. Do people really only use 10 percent of their brain. Then surely tell up with the or telekinesis would be no problem if people could finally access 100 percent of their brain power as well as. Mike lucy in the film of the same name. While the rest of us bumble along out of her feeling 10 percent. Thats a myth that is more hollywood the reality. Using only 10 percent of the organ that consumes the most energy would be a huge evolutionary disadvantage. Even asleep we use far more than a 10th of our brain. No one knows exactly where the persistent 10 percent myth comes from its been misattributed to many people including Albert Einstein at my heart back to a misunderstanding of a very positive by psychologist William James and he student boris cedars. The cedar says son was a child prodigy. At 18 months who reportedly could read a newspaper. Later it was a claim that he had an i. Q. Of 254000000. 00 james then said in a lecture. People only meet a fraction of the full mental potential. But he said not. Thing about 10 percent part of the brain remaining unused. Pop culture has also helped to perpetuate the myth. Of course some areas of the brain may be more active than others but none are completely idle if they cant receive stimuli theyll find another job to do. For example in blind people the visual centers of the brain can adapt to help process or the tree signals. But brain cells tend to atrophy if their own news. Quite apart from a conscious Decision Making the brain has plenty to do filtering impressions regulating breathing controlling reflexes hunger and thirst and much more besides. The fact is only people who suffer real brain damage can no longer use certain parts of their brain. The rest of us can access all of those billions of brain cells. The brain of a newborn baby possesses many more new runs than that of an adult while in the womb the brain grows at an average rate of 250000 neurons per minute. That its still not fully developed the brain initially develops many more synopses than it actually needs it was hard to comprehend the world and to remember. Babies are curious and attentive but come a watch somebody do something remember it and then do it themselves that is imitate a simple action. 6 months old and shes observing closely. You can pull off the toys here and shake it like a rattle. After a brief pause its layers turn shes clearly noted the trick with the air. That shows shes developed some memory for a sequence of events. But thats only one of many stages in the development of memory. Psychologists at Frankfurt University tested 1000. 00 children extensively over a period of 5 years. They wanted to find out what stages children go through until they develop the ability to remember events from their own past and then go on to have an autobiographical memory. The ability to recognise oneself is a prelude to being able to remember things from ones past can morrow recognise herself yet. Had time to wipe away the mark on her face with the help of america these days is that it isnt a mark. Why dont you morrow touches her face she recognised herself in the mirror not all children can do that at one and a half. Benjamin tries to wipe the mark off the mirror instead. And because i think now finds the image in the mirror upsetting. Look why put away your earliest is a bit older. You know if the mark a way. You will use recognises himself in the mirror but hes still got a way to go to develop an autobiographical memory. This ought to be could have a should be disposed of by a graphical memory is the queen of disciplines within memory and it requires many different components which children dont have when they 1st arrive on the planet off to a con the ability to remember past events is one of those components you leave us recognizes himself in the mirror and on screen whats not up there. Its a bit of red tape there where is it. Cant you lose connect the past situation he sees in the video to the present that would be sensational as you will also still rather young for that now and for what than just what do you see the red thing is kind what is it you can you give it to me. When you take it off the video off grab a fan and this task doesnt just require him to recognize whos there on the screen the strip of paper was attached to his head a few minutes earlier he also has to understand i existed a few minutes ago and i remember that happening so the paper might still be there only then can you look for it on his own head. By the time therefore most children can complete this task with that theyre already much closer to having a full autobiographical memory. Remembering an experience is the next stage. Tony is 6 and hes shown a scene from 2 years earlier. Do we still have this street. We tend those cars and drive them along the street right now because the situation he also talks about other adventures without any video prompt knows that was he there was this i said to light but didnt get away in time and it went off. Tony had to work hard to reach this stage and lest we forget heres the video to prove it. And how good is your memory what did you wear to that party one month ago a red dress or was it the blue one. What did you eat something healthy. For fast food. Are you sure maybe you got it wrong. Did you have an argument with your friend. Well one thing is clear our memories are not always as reliable as wed life. We all have minor lapses of memory from time to time we find ourselves thinking i could have sworn i put the keys on that shelf. After an anxious search we eventually find them. On the desk. Or minds play games on us and london based forensic psychologist julia sure says it happens far more often than we realize. I like to compare memory to all we can pedia pain inch you can alter it but so can others and i like the analogy because it describes how flexible our memories are and how they can undergo massive changes in everyday life as well as an extreme situation isnt explained at what cost of an uncle. In experiments sure has brought 70 percent of participants over the course of 3 interviews to have memories of a crime they never committed. On c n n z n n a and they remember it in all its complexity as if it really happened. And you know give details emotional details the way you think but cant possibly be a phones memory and it sounds as if this person really did it all to think about it self declared perpetrators and victims can turn out to be nothing of the sort happens time and again. In germany in 2004 a man admitted to chopping up his fiances father and feeding him to dogs he said the victims family helped him carry out the gruesome deed. But 5 years later the police found the mans car in the danube river and inside they found the corpse of the allegedly butchered would be father in law all in one piece. Yet the monument and the fact the more you question someone the more their memories can change and that is important for Police Investigation methods. As it means that we have to take into account the repeated interrogate. Shins can lead to a suspect adding misinformation to their memories misrepresenting things in a very major way. In australia in 1975 a woman was raped and then gave investigators a very detailed description of her attacker he was soon found and arrested but he had a water tight alibi he was doing a live interview at the time of the rape so if he could not possibly be the rapist why was the woman so sure he was. In this case the answer was quite simple shed watched the interview on t. V. Just before she was attacked the woman had confused the face shed seen on t. V. With that of the rapist. Mentioned to me that you see it sort of people who are involved in the criminal Justice SystemLike Police Officers and lawyers often say that they would recognise a false confession or a false memory when they encountered one once. But thats not true these situations are incredibly difficult to understand for everybody so we can see if someone is lying and we cant see if someone has a false memory that that led to a nightmarish situation for a man in the United States in the 1990 s. While undergoing psychotherapy his adult daughter suddenly came to believe that she had been sexually abused by him for many years she said that had resulted in 2 pregnancies and she had tacked to abort the foetuses with a wire coat hanger. But then it emerged that the woman had never been pregnant much less had any abortions she was in fact still a virgin. Juliet schor also consults as an expert on criminal cases and provides training to the police. Her primary aim is to teach investigators to. Void suggestive questions that can elicit false memories. Sure says it can happen very fast. Lens either has one thing about if you think the person you are talking to you know small and even knows more about you and your life than you do then you can soon start thinking yes what if that is what happened on the what if can quickly turn into a. Perhaps consume become a yes that is what happened. False memories can lead to false statements and to terrible miscarriages of justice. Incidentally studies show that were much more likely to notice negative things than positive ones that make sense from an evolutionary point of view allowing us to recognize problems and dangerous and to resolve them but it can also prevent us from shrugging off things that arent important. However we can retrain ourselves for example by taking time to remember the good things that were happy about. Many things are known to have a very good memory and theres social animals like most primates including humans then theyre all social predators that hunt in packs Study Suggests the brain can reveal how sociable and im lives dolphins for example have been shown to be extremely social animals but other species also appear to be more selfless than we realized. Its well known that parents are pretty smart birds but i think also helpful to each other. Is an african gray and lives in laurel park zoo on 10 a river in the Canary Islands she and her friends have been helping the mox Grant Institute for ornithology with an experiment about social intelligence and cooperative ness. The parents quickly learn that they can exchange a token for food. But in this experiment bella has a problem she can swap her tokens for a treat because the window is closed instead she hands them over to her friend kimmy kimmie then swaps the tokens for food through her window bella gets nothing this generosity without any immediate favor in return surprised even the researchers because until now such behavior had only been observed among some great apes and humans. In the 2nd experiment the parents were given a choice. A blue token means only one of them gets a treat a white token earns them both a snack they soon work it out and choose white which benefits both birds even though the other one has done nothing to earn or treat. Me parents are evidently helpful and not envious. The researchers think this has to do with parents lifelong monogamy. They prefer solidarity to selfishness. If help what is right why are great but im going to be ok to have it do you have a science question that youve always wanted answered it like were happy to help out yes send it to us as a video text ovoid smell if we answer it on the show will send you a little surprise as a thank you come on just ask. And for most stories about the world of science visit us on our website on twitter and facebook. Thats all from tamara today next time we look at the universe through the Hubble Space Telescope its celebrating its 30th anniversary in space what insights have we gained and what does the future homes tell them up i. Mean. Grab a paddle and off you go. Ill. Take the call through excess odum adventurous journey along germanys land river im very excited about what awaits me on this trip the river the lamp is added challenge it allentown or along the way i have 25 kilometers ahead of me im by luck all the way to town called chiquita. Coming up on w. Climate. Chilling. For filmmaking. In architecture foreign music. The arts consumed one thing above all our. Energy. God has got to change. Can art become Climate Friendly 21. And 30 minutes on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when will all this. Time for just 3 of the topics covered in the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at d. F. W. Dot com ford slash science. Nor didnt want to have a dream of at night leaving. His screeners they see the face of her. Theyre just censoring for the social media industry. In the duma there are thousands of socalled content monitors day for day they screw up terrifying images from online platforms. Up 220000 times a day. A risky job for starvation wage. The strain is enormous. The cleaners or sworn to secrecy they are not allowed to talk about their work. And no one asks help me or doing. A great. I need to stop theres something wrong going. To social networks have any social responsibility at all. The cleaners social media shadow industry starts june its on g. W. Theres do you have the news and these are our top stories crowds have been gathering at the white house in washington d. C. For another day of protests over the death of george floyd earlier demonstrators rallied outside the u. S. Embassies in europe and beyond calling for an end to racism and police brutality. Brazils government says it will no longer provide a running total of deaths and infections attributed to covert 98. 00 it currently has the highest tally