Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum The Flash man.... reality???

Is it possible to manipulate the neurochemistry of a human bieng in order to achive incredibly high speeds? Each nerve impulse accelerated from its normal pace to enable a human to perform any activity faster then ordinary. Every time i run really fast or perform an activity that involves speed (like stacking plastic cups) i have noticed that to acquire accuracy in whatever the activity is one should either have done the activity so many time that they dont even need to think about it, it just happens...( this is explained by reflex control of the body at the spinal cord where no thought processing occurs... the brain is not involved therefore the nerve message is simply trigered through a shorter route relative to one that may include the brain)for example as soon as u touch somthing very hot you dont think about when to move your hand before it starts burning... you just jerk and pull your hand. Another way to acquire accurace in an activity is to do it very slowly while the nerve messages travell from one of the 5 senses to the brain, where the brain thinks what to do (thought processing)and then from the brain to another part of our body. Could'nt it be possible to accelerate these nerve impulses travelling to and from the brain in order for someone to complete an activity faster and accurately? If anyone can answer my questions or share their own ideas... please reply. thanx

Interesting question which, unfortunately, I'm not the one to provide an informed answer. As you said, the sympathetic nervous system operates rapidly, the slow down occurring whenever this system is insufficient and the grey matter is called into action. I guess that accelerating the impulses travelling to and from the brain would do little to enhance the overall responses, as it's mainly the 'thought processing' that you refer to that causes the slow down. I think this might be something that biophysicists/biochemists will work on during the next 100-200 years, maybe as an extension of research into dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Imagine if the nerve cells in the brain itself "the gray matter" was actually able to transmit messages very fast... along with the sympethetic nervous system. A very long and tough calculation would merely take seconds to calculate in the head! and yes u r right this is the key factor for any fruitfull results in this area of studies. The main fact is if we were to find some knd of nerve impulse acceleration we ideally shud be able to effect both the centeral and the periphral nervous system. afcourse this is just a thought... only a thought... what if a foreign neurotransmitter was introduced in da human body that afcourse would be gentically altered and engineered and ideally- would once injected into the body replicate itself using the body functions. Afcource i am not quite sure how many different types of neurotransmiters exists ... in human and other animals. this could be the very key factor to unlock this potential ability. neways thanx for replying redewenur... oh and what rating is superstar??

I suspect you may be right about there being some potential to accelerate thought processes. The difficulty I see is the complexity of the chemistry involved: (a) it appears to be poorly understood, and (b) a slight imbalance of neurotransmitters can lead to affective disorders, thought disorders and behavioural problems. I find it easier to envisage the earlier development of cranial implant technology using nanotech artificial intelligence.

Superstar rating? Very simple - the more you post, the more glamorous your rating. No erudition required. In my case, it probably means that I should 'get a life'

Have nodes of Ranvier that are more spread out? Not sure how you would do that though....