Cropped_Spaniard In A Lungi
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An unassuming Spaniard named Alejandro Riera participated in a telepathy experiment transmitting brain signals between himself in Thiruvananthapuram, India and a person in Strasbourg, France over 7,800 km away. Riera, an expert in brain-computer interface research, mentally uttered "hola" and "ciao" which were encoded and transmitted via the internet to stimulate the receiver's brain in France. Riera conducted the experiment from his rented flat in Kazhakoottam using a portable EEG device, demonstrating long-distance brain communication. He was in Kerala for research with Neuroelectrics, a company commercializing brain activity measurement technology.
Cropped_Spaniard In A Lungi
- 1. Kochi: The man at the Kerala end of the recent telepathy experiment that involved transmitting brain signals between two people 7,800 kms apart, one in Thiruvananthapuram and the other at Strasbourg in France, wasanunassumingSpaniardAlejan- droRiera. An expert in brain-to-computer (BCI) research, Riera mentally ut- tered his now-celebrated hola and ciaocladinalungiandathomeina rented flat at Kazhakoottam, the skull-cap like accoutrement on his head the only sign that he was in- volved in what could, in due course, changethenatureof communication technology. It was me. I was living at Kazha- koottam then, working for Starlab, the company which partnered in the experiment, said Riera over phone from Barcelona. He is also one of the eight co-authors of the research pa- per which revealed the findings of thisexperimenttotheworld. In the experiment conducted by Universityof BarcelonaandHarvard Medical School, Riera simply thought up the two formal greetings, in Spanish and Italian respectively, andtheelectroencephalogram(EEG) device on his head collected the phys- ical signals from his brain, encoded and sent them over internet to Stras- bourg,wherearobotsendthosemess- agesasaTMSpulsetoapersonsitting there. This stimulated the receivers brain rather than hear the actual words, he saw flashes of light in his peripheral vision, the very moment Riera thought of the words in his mind. At Rieras end, there was no need foralab.Sohechosetodoitrightfrom his office-cum-residence on the 14th floor of Oceanus Blue Mount flats at Kazhakoottam. I was using a very small portable device weighing less than a mobile phone. On the other hand, the receiver in Strasbourg was in a lab because the TMS (transcra- nial magnetic stimulation) machine used for neuro stimulation was a big andheavyone,hesaid. Riera was in Kerala from January 2013 to July 2014, as research repre- sentative of Neuroelectrics, a subsid- iary for commercialization of Star- labs technology to measure human brainactivity. Iwascontinuingmyresearchon- line from Thiruvananthapuram for Starlab, as well as networking to get to know neuroscientists in India for collaborationinresearchandalsofor finding a market for the technologies that we sell through Neuroelectrics, hesaid. A Spaniard in a lungi, hola Strasbourg Alejandro Riera participated in a telepathy experiment with a person in France from a rented flat in Kazhakoottam Shenoy.Karun@timesgroup.com