Ideas change everything

Can we create new senses for humans?

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David Eagleman |

TED2015

• March 2015

As humans, we can perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. "Our experience of reality," says neuroscientist David Eagleman, "is constrained by our biology." He wants to change that. His research into our brain processes has led him to create new interfaces -- such as a sensory vest -- to take in previously unseen information about the world around us.

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As humans, we can perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. "Our experience of reality," says neuroscientist David Eagleman, "is constrained by our biology." He wants to change that. His research into our brain processes has led him to create new interfaces -- such as a sensory vest -- to take in previously unseen information about the world around us.

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About the speaker

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David Eagleman decodes the mysteries of the tangled web of neurons and electricity that make our minds tick -- and also make us human.

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How to hear the world through your back

David Eagleman explains the “versatile extra-sensory transducer,” his vest that allows deaf people to hear the world through vibrations.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

David Eagleman: Can we create new senses for humans? | TED Talk