In the future when people say “let me put on my thinking cap”, they could really mean that they’re going to put on a thinking cap. Some researchers in Australia have managed to come up with such a device that stimulates a person’s brain – something that the Australian media have equated with getting hit by lightning. The thinking cap works by exposes its subject’s brain to 10-15 minutes of low-level electric pulses which gives them an hour of enhanced brain power where they experience “new modes of thinking”. According to some tests, folks were able to solve complex problems 20% of the time without the brain stimulation, but with some magic stimulation of the thinking cap, that percentage tripled to 60%. No word on whether it’ll become a commercial product, but if everyone gets their hands on such a device, being a genius is going to take the mere flip of a switch.
Filed in . Read more about Australia, Gadget, Invention and Problems.