This story is archived

Scientists say nerves use sound, not electricity »

Posted by: pagey 2 years, 9 months ago

Archived 56 0 drops

The common view that nerves transmit impulses through electricity is wrong and they really transmit sound, according to a team of Danish scientists.

Read Full Story at cbc.ca »

Submitted By:

pagey

Hi Everyone, thanks for the visit and check out my group
.http://www.propeller.com/groups/automotive/

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent ...

This Story is Archived and Commenting is Closed

Comments: 71

Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
idyll
March 11, 2007, 10:40 a.m.
What a fascinating story! Well then, if our neurology is based on sound, we must all produce our own music.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
VulgarCelebrity7
March 11, 2007, 11:45 a.m.
The young blind kid on Oprah used his tounge to click vibrations to locate where he was at and what substance object were made out of. It's all part of the triune numerical physics of how the universe is made up. Melody, Harmony, Rythm.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
Goppy
March 11, 2007, 12:05 p.m.
No wonder I hate listening to Liberals talk. They get on my nerves.
And why I bask in the glory that is Rush Limbugh, Ann Cutter, Seen Hanity and others.
Ive got FOX on in the other room, an even now, I feel the calm peacefulness that comes from listining to others agree with me.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
ListenUP
March 11, 2007, 12:35 p.m.
Fox Rush et al? If I am to be totally honest about the "music" of their thinking:
Sounds like a poor imitation of bad karaoke on a sinking cruise ship holding a dreadful cabaret that nobody goes to anymore. Paula likes the sound but she is mindless.
--Simon
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
SuperOtter
March 11, 2007, 12:54 p.m.
Fascinating! This is especially intriguing in the light of "Universal String Theory," which claims that the subatomic particles of EVERYTHING vibrate at their own unique frequencies like the strings on a violin.
This is also fascinating when you consider the chanting of different mantras durring meditation common in the eastern philosophies. "AUM" is supposed to be the "Ultimate reality," the sound of creation itself.
Bet ya didn't think an otter knew of all that...huh? LOL
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
protoham
March 11, 2007, 1:36 p.m.
LOL
What is sound? How about the movement of electrons through a medium. Oh, we are back to electrical. Same with light.
Sound and Light are just the symptom of the action. Science moving at the speed of smell!!
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
mamasan
March 11, 2007, 2:17 p.m.
if this is true I think it will change medicine in a huge way.
Also the implications for sound therapy.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
Kenoryn
March 11, 2007, 3:29 p.m.
Sound and light are not the movement of electrons. Light is a type of electromagnetic wave and sound is a longitudinal physical wave. By theorizing that sound is used, the theory is that rather than moving electrons across the nerve, actual matter is being moved, ie. the atoms themselves.
This doesn't make sense to me... shouldn't we be able to hear with our entire body then? shouldn't noises cause us to feel pain? what about shock therapy? How about the electromagnetic transmissions we can measure from our brains? we measure electromagnetic activity within the brain. Why don't we all make a quiet humming noise? Is there a peer-reviewed journal on this?
Avg rating: (+4/-1 3)
truthiness
March 11, 2007, 3:56 p.m.
I have epilepsy, for that reason I've made some study into neurolgy, not like the people in this article, but...
there is a medical device for extreme epileptic cases called a Vagus Nerve Stimulator which is implanted in the upper left chest similar to pace maker but sends electrical impulses to the brain at regular intervals and somehow this helps to prevent seizures by regulating brain activity. Doesn't this sort of prove that neurons fire electrical pulses?
Our whole understanding of epilepsy at this point, which is admittedly poor, is based around the concept of electrical chemical connections...my medicine works for me (gratefully)
now it wouldn't be the first time that scientists were collectively wrong, and I suppose all of thes treatments could be dumb luck, but...
Avg rating: (+1/-1 0)
Pedra
March 11, 2007, 4:12 p.m.
I have MS and I know that the pain that I suffer through is not caused by "sound". It feels like lightning bolts in my head.
"Heimburg and Jackson theorize that sound propagation is a much more likely explanation. Although sound waves usually weaken as they spread out, a medium with the right physical properties could create a special kind of sound pulse or "soliton" that can propagate without spreading or losing strength."
My theory is: "a medium with the right physical properties could create a special kind of electricity that does not "produce heat as it travels along the nerves".
I
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
AmpLee
March 11, 2007, 4:55 p.m.
I was hooked up to a type of nerve monitoring before spinal surgery, and had the odd experiaence of having my fingers and toes moved by an outside agencey, like a marionette.
I'm pretty sure the 'strings' were not sound impulses, but electrical ones. Very unnerving. Supposed to be a safety procedure, to be hooked up like that, head to toe, so they can monitor and test your motor nerve function during surgery.
Maybe that's why head-bangers bob to the music, it's an unvoluntary nerve impulse to the sound and they can't help it.
I wonder which is quicker, the speed of sound or electrical impulses? Moving at the speed of sound...
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
AmpLee
March 11, 2007, 4:59 p.m.
had random thought about the frequency the universe is supposed to 'hum' at, you know, the Hindu and Buddhist 'aum, or om'....
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
NicholasDonovan
March 11, 2007, 7:02 p.m.
Sorry, the master system of the body is the nervous system and it runs on electricity.
I can say that in all of the classes I've taken in neurology, physiology and gross anatomy I've never heard the theory that it runs on sound.
We are actually able to measure the electricity that is produced in terms of voltage usually measured by the bilateral number of voltage-gated sodium channels.
Many anti-epile... drug treatments work on the basis of blockade of voltage-sensitive sodium channels, resulting in stabilization of synoptic firing.
Neurocardiogenic syncope is sometimes treated medically via device that regulates stimulatory effect, although IMHO, conservative approaches work best.
Then again, meditation and chanting can be quite calming from both autonomic and sympathetic/parasympathetic perspectives.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
Macbeth
March 11, 2007, 7:29 p.m.
I need to see the paper written by these physicists, and what they are really getting at, before I can take this serious.
Biologists have measured the membrane potential of nerves and they carry a voltage.
-Sound does not produce this.-
My guess is that some journalism major with no idea what electricity/membrane potential/waves/ionic charge are, and took some analogy out of context.
BOO to this article for bad explanations.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
RubyLeMot
March 11, 2007, 7:32 p.m.
I have a friend who is going through bouts of vertigo accompanied with unnerving sound sensations - not like the sounds we are familiar with as in specific note sounds. Perhaps, it is more like a hummm.... it is always present in some degree whether the room spins or no. Electrically, there may be a misconnection and what she hears, or feels she hears, is what accompanies the delicate conduction of neural networking - the kind of thing that previously other specialists believed was the only player around.
If she finds out what the particular causes are, I will update.
I find the concept of sound to be intriguing, but am looking for more to grasp the impacts of this study.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
david_nwpa
March 11, 2007, 7:50 p.m.
I think the possibilities are amazing if the argument could be settled. It may not make sense to physicists about why electrical impulses would not produce heat. How did they quantify "produce heat"? Did they measure temperature changes at the point at which the electrical impulses occur? Perhaps the transfer of heat energy is incredibly small.
I agree with the other posts. Until this article undergoes strenuous analysis and peer review, I would not find it to be completely credible.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
sue2008
March 12, 2007, 2:36 p.m.
then why we can't hear when ears are blugged??
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
askamander
March 21, 2007, 1:05 p.m.
Oh boy... How can someone think in millions of sounds at the same time ... see the thing is that the kind of sound they talk about is in a microscale distance of nano meters i presume and more so it is caused primerely by electron discharge because vibtations of any kind generate energy and i think the most precise way to say this is that its not exlusively f... sound. there are chemical electrical and maybe even microvibrations all together in a soup of comunication betwen ...neuron-muscles,all the types of brain cells betwen them , and then all of them with all types of other cells in the body ... i mean to say that the Danish physics prof. just explained maybe one of the many factors that play a role..it cant just be sound .