Science Flash: Flies with Fake Flashbacks?

I remember discussing with a friend of mine how weird it would be if we could manipulate our own dreams not so long ago. Of course, manipulating dreams implies that we could manipulate other things in our heads as well- not quite a good thing in the wrong hands, but a cool concept. Now, it seems as though scientists are starting to get there.

Scientists Give Flies False Memories

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015123552.htm

This article was about a group of scientists who managed to isolate a couple of neurons (12, to be exact) and manipulate them in a fly so that it would create false memories to avoid a specific odor. If you ask me, this is pretty amazing. Think of it this way: usually, if you watch documentaries or look at brain diagrams, you can see only the sections of the brain that is activated when doing a specific task. These sections contain a lot of neurons that all work together. Think of it this way: the brain of a fly (which I'd guess is really, really small, not to offend the fly) has a few thousand neurons. Humans, who are larger, have a large brain in proportion to our bodies, and have pretty sophisticated brains as well, would have a lot of neurons- just to put things in proportion. Memory, especially, is really complex: whenever we recall a memory, it isn't stored in one part of the brain. Rather, if I were to remember, say, what I ate for breakfast, I would remember the taste, smell, feel, sounds, what it looked like, the words associated with those images and other perceptions, and all these different sections contain many, many neurons that work together to "remember" this event (makes you appreciate your breakfast a lot more, doesn't it?). Now, bearing this in mind, these scientists managed to isolate 12 neurons in the entire brain of the fly (bearing a few thousand neurons) and stimulate these neurons to give the fly an unpleasant memory. Doesn't that just blow you away?

In the article, they also discuss an interesting point that I find is worthwhile to contemplate: intelligence from something, well, non-intelligent: "the physical interactions between cells and molecules." What they mean is that all of our "intelligence" can be reduced to what happens between our neurons- the capability to create memories, have thoughts, and carry out other advanced functions. So, in a sense, I can type this article because of the reactions and interactions between the neurons in my brain. I think it's kind of like how the computer can do all of the things it does from 1's and 0's, or how we can form so many words from the letters of the alphabet- creating complex things from simple materials. Still, my question is: if we messed with those "physical interactions," would that mean we are messing with our brains?

The article also discusses another point in the last paragraph that has to do with my question: the fly of a brain can probably tell us a lot about how more complicated brains like ours work. As we look more into how brains work, in simple and complex organisms, will there come a time when we can manipulate our own brains? When we can choose what we dream at night, or "delete" memories, or even mess with ourselves so much that we become completely different? While such precise control as choosing our dreams is probably far in the future (hopefully), we are already messing with our minds- and fixing them as well, in some cases. Take drugs, for instance. When people smoke, the nicotine can go to our brain and coat our neurons in an unhealthy layer of the stuff- slowing down our thoughts and messing with our brains, in way. Conversely, when our brain lacks certain chemicals, we can now "fix" ourselves, at least for a while, by supplying that chemical. For instance, people with Parkinson's disease, a disease that slowly destroys neurons in the brain (in a book I read, one patient described it as being a lizard that is cold and frozen, and needs the sun to warm it up to move) making movement more and more difficult. One of the reasons for this is the lack of dopamine, a chemical produced in the brain that isn't being produced as readily in people in Parkinson's disease. Neurologists can prescribe such patients with L-Dopa, which will turn into dopamine when it gets into the brain, fixing it for a while. Of course, as the disease progresses, the L-Dopa will help less and less, until they eventually succumb to the disease. However, we are still fiddling with our brains in that way.

For now, scientists are only creating false memories in flies, so there's no need to worry about whether our memories are genuine or not- although we create false ones ourselves anyways. (I would launch into a story about an online lecture I heard a bit of while doing research for a memory presentation, but I'm afraid I'll put some unwary person to sleep). While the thought of controlling minds scares me, this discovery still excites me: after all, we are just beginning to tap into the power of our minds. Who knows what people will discover in the field of neurology?