Hack Your Dreams

A team of researchers at MIT’s Dream Lab, which launched in 2017, are working on an open-source wearable device that can track and interact with dreams in a number of ways, including, hopefully, giving you new control over the content of your dreams. The team’s radical goal is to prove once and for all that dreams aren’t just meaningless gibberish but can be hacked, augmented, and swayed to our benefit. A glove-like device called Dormio, developed by the Dream Lab team, is outfitted with a host of sensors that can detect which sleeping state the wearer is in. When the wearer slips into a state between conscious and subconscious, hypnagogia, the glove plays a pre-recorded audio cue, most of the times consisting of a single word.

Hypnagogia may be different for different people. Some say they have woken up from hypnagogia, reporting they experienced strong visual and auditory hallucinations. Others can interact with somebody in the state. But the Dream Lab might be on to something with its Dormio glove. For instance, in a 50-person experiment, the speaking glove was able to insert a tiger into people’s sleep by having the glove say a prerecorded message that simply said tiger. The device is meant to democratize the science of tracking sleep. Step-by-step instructions were posted online with bio signal tracking software available on Github, allowing everybody to theoretically make their own Dormio glove. A similar device built by Dream Lab relies on smell rather than an audio cue.

More information:

https://futurism.com/mit-scientists-devices-hack-dreams

Brain Stimulation Improves Depression

Deep brain stimulation, or DBS, involves implantation of electrodes within certain areas of the brain which produce electrical impulses. The amount of stimulation is controlled by a pacemaker-like device, which is placed in the upper chest. A wire connects this pacemaker-like device to the electrodes in the brain that travels under the skin. The deep brain stimulation devices are used for the treatment of dystonia, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, stroke recovery, major depression and many others. The effects of the therapy in a small group of patients were long-lasting, researchers say, adding to evidence that the approach works for treatment-resistant depression.

DBS involves implanting a small neurostimulator into a patient’s brain to send out electrical impulses to specific brain regions. One study evaluated the mental health of people who had been fitted with the implants during the previous eight years. Most patients experienced a robust and sustained antidepressant response to the therapy. About one-third of the participants experienced a full remission of symptoms, while half reported a reduction. Researchers also found no adverse health effects of the device itself, although the surgical procedure to implant it was associated with common surgical complications such as infection in some patients.

More information:

https://teletype.in/@divya/c6gul-Luq

Lenovo AR Glasses

A handful of unverified photos have revealed what appears to be a never before seen pair of AR glasses from Lenovo. The AR glasses appear to be tethered on the left temple, suggesting it could have a dedicated compute unit that users can pocket, such as Magic Leap 1. Considering Lenovo’s ThinkReality product class is enterprise-focused, it’s possible it will connect via a dedicated compute unit, or even the class of mobile work PCs the company is best known for.

The headset’s near-eye optics sit behind the glass frame. From a straight-on shot, we get a cleared view of the headset’s optical sensors; there appears to be three main optical sensors, two on the left and right end pieces and a single sensor on the bridge. Possibly two additional sensors can be seen behind the exterior lenses, however it’s uncertain. There’s also a closeup of the right end piece sensor, which is likely for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

More information:

https://www.roadtovr.com/leaked-lenovo-ar-glasses-ces-2021/