Giving the Brain a Buzz: The Ultimate in Self-Help or a Dangerous Distraction?

October 23, 2014

(Scientific American) – Imagine a medical device that is so simple to build and cheap to acquire that anyone with an Internet connection and a local Radio Shack can use it tweak their brains—to become smarter, more focused, calmer, or happier. Such a device nominally exists. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) involves sending low-current electricity into the brain via carefully placed electrodes attached to the scalp.