Yang S, Papagiakoumou E, Guillon M, de Sars V, Tang CM, & Emiliani V (2011). Three-dimensional holographic photostimulation of the dendritic arbor. Journal of neural engineering, 8 (4) PMID: 21623008
Go read the whole article.
The Holographic Brain
According to the holonomic brain theory,Cognitive function is guided by a matrix of neurological wave interference patterns situated temporally between holographic Gestalt perception and discrete, affective, quantum vectors derived from reward anticipation potentials.Well, I don't know about that, but a group of neuroscientists have just reported on using holograms as a tool for studying brain function: Three-dimensional holographic photostimulation of the dendritic arbor.
A while ago, scientists worked out how to "cage" interesting compounds, such as neurotransmitters, inside large, inert molecules. Then, by shining laser light of the right wavelength at the cages, it's possible to break them and release what's inside. This is very useful because it allows you to, say, selectively release neurotransmitters in particular places, just by pointing the laser at them.
There's a problem though. The uncaging doesn't happen immediately: the laser has to be pointing at the same point for a certain fixed time. This makes it very difficult to simultaneously stimulate many different points - which is, ideally, what you'd want to do, because in the real brain, everything happens at the same time: a given cell might be receiving input from dozens of others, and sending output to the same number.
One of the "fathers" of holonomic brain theory is Karl Pribram (his home page) - one of his essential papers, The Implicate Brain, is available online as a PDF. A massive collection of his papers going all the way back to the 1940s is available at his website.
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