Bioethicists call for stronger oversight of direct-to-consumer neurotechnologies

By SharpBrains | January 18, 2019

Bioethi­cists call for over­sight of poor­ly reg­u­lat­ed, con­­sumer-grade neu­rotech­nol­o­gy prod­ucts (Med­ical News): “The mar­ket­ing of direct-to-con­­sumer “neu­rotech­nolo­gies” can be entic­ing: apps that diag­nose a men­tal state, and brain devices that improve cog­ni­tion or “read” one’s emo­tion­al state. How­ev­er, many of these increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar prod­ucts aren’t ful­ly sup­port­ed by sci­ence and have lit­tle to no reg­u­la­to­ry oversight,…

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Anticipating ethical implications of DARPA’s neurotechnology push

By SharpBrains | October 12, 2018

___ The Pentagon’s Push to Pro­gram Sol­diers’ Brains (The Atlantic): “…darpa offi­cials refer to the poten­tial con­se­quences of neu­rotech­nol­o­gy by invok­ing the acronym elsi, a term of art devised for the Human Genome Project. It stands for “eth­i­cal, legal, social impli­ca­tions.” The man who led the dis­cus­sion on ethics among the research teams 

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Researchers stress need for neurotechnologies to protect the mental dimension of individuals and groups, especially mental privacy and integrity

By SharpBrains | January 19, 2018

From Health­care to War­fare: How to Reg­u­late Brain Tech­nol­o­gy (Uni­ver­si­ty of Basel press release): “The term “dual-use” refers to tech­nol­o­gy that can be used for both ben­e­fi­cial (i.e., med­ical) and harm­ful (i.e., mil­i­tary of ter­ror­is­tic) aims. Until recent­ly, most dual-use tech­nol­o­gy emerged espe­cial­ly in virol­o­gy and bac­te­ri­ol­o­gy. In the last years, how­ev­er, mil­i­­tary-fund­ed research has…

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Important insights on the growing home use of tDCS brain stimulation: older-than-expected users, positive self-reported results for treatment of depression but negative for self-enhancement, and a couple areas of concern (severe burns, frequency)

By SharpBrains | January 18, 2018

___ At the 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit last month, researcher and sci­ence writer Dr. Anna Wexler dis­cussed some fas­ci­nat­ing insights from her sur­vey of 339 home (or “do-it-your­­self”) users of tDCS (tran­scra­nial direct cur­rent stim­u­la­tion) devices. The sur­vey results have just been pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Cog­ni­tive Enhance­ment (details below), and pro­vide a use­ful win­dow into who…

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How will the Clinicians, Patients and Consumers of the Future ensure appropriate use of brain enhancement methods encompassing lifestyle, supplements, brain training, meditation, bio/ neurofeedback, tDCS and more?

By SharpBrains | December 27, 2017

How will the Clin­i­cians, Patients and Con­sumers of the Future ensure appro­pri­ate use of brain enhance­ment meth­ods encom­pass­ing lifestyle, sup­ple­ments, brain train­ing, med­i­ta­tion, bio/ neu­ro­feed­back, tDCS and more? (record­ing requires reg­is­tra­tion; view slid­edeck above or Here) Dr. Eddie Mar­tuc­ci, Co-Founder and CEO of Akili Inter­ac­tive Labs Dr. Anna Wexler, sci­ence writer, film­mak­er and post­doc fel­low at the Depart­ment of Medical…

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Thank you, Partners @ 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit, for helping shape Brain Health & Enhancement in the Digital Age!

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 1, 2017

__________ Thank you very much, great Sum­mit Part­ners, for sup­port­ing the 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit tak­ing place next week (Dec. 5–7th) and gath­er­ing 50+ Speak­ers and 200+ par­tic­i­pants work­ing on ways to enhance brain health and per­for­mance in the dig­i­tal age! __________ Learn more & Reserve your Spot HERE (10%-off pro­mo code for Sharp­Brains read­ers: sharp2017)

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