This TED talk might not be as inspiring to watch as others are but the ideas and technologies presented have huge implications. Basically these neuroscientists are able to “hack” into a neuron’s DNA encoding and change it so it produces these proteins which absorb light and transform it to electricity. By doing this, the scientists can trigger these neurons with light or shut them down. This allows them to treat certain mental illnesses by debugging the brain. We might not be able to have computers and software which simulate the brain but we’re already starting to fix bugs in the brain and later we’ll be able to have input and output streams connected to the brain. Crazy!

(via Ed Boyden: A light switch for neurons | Video on TED.com)