Scientists want to zap your brain to stop you from making dumb decisions

Brain.
(Image credit: iStock)

Have you ever wished that a higher being would stop you from doing stupid things just before you do them? Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine may have just discovered the next best thing: implantable devices that can shock your brain out of self-destructive choices.

The scientists, studying deep brain stimulation in mice, found that electrical activity in the nucleus accumbens — a deep part of the brain that controls our reward systems — spikes right before a "moment of weakness." By shooting electricity to the nucleus accumbens through a specialized device right as this increased activity was detected, they were able to prevent mice from giving into their vices — in this case, high-fat food the mice had been taught to binge eat.

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Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.