Humans and Light

I knew there was a reason that study with the worms was sticking with me. Turns out, it's becoming a trend.

Scientists are now using a similar combination of gene therapy and light flashes to activate a bundle of neurons in the hypothalamus that is in charge of aggression and mating impulses. Essentially, they were able to turn on the neurons for aggression and watch the mouse devastate whatever was put in front of it, or go from that straight into having sex with whatever was put in front of it. Interestingly enough, however, it appears to be much harder to get mice to back away from sex to be aggressive. Now, while you can excite those areas, you can also turn them off, meaning no sexual or aggressive impulses. Solution for murderous inmates and sex offenders?

The kind of scarier thing about this one from the worms is that it's a much shorter step from mice to men than it is from worms. So...light influencing behavior...you might just want to keep your eyes closed from now on.