Mind benders?

Can magnetic energy beamed into a person’s brain reduce his belief in God? Researchers at the University of York and the University of California, Los Angeles, claim to have discovered just that.

The scientists used “transcranial magnetic stimulation” to slow down activity in a specific region of the brain known as the posterior medial frontal cortex, an area associated with problem-solving.

Researchers prescreened the participants for religious convictions and then performed a “sham” procedure on half of the participants but zapped the brains of the other half with magnetic energy. They then asked all of the participants to think about death and rate their level of belief in the devil, demons, God, angels, heaven, and hell. The researchers directed the subjects’ attention to death because people turn to religion for comfort in the face of death, said psychologist Keise Izuma.

The people who received the magnetic treatment reported a nearly 33 percent drop in their religious beliefs while the group that did not receive magnetic treatment showed no change.

“As expected, we found that when we experimentally turned down the posterior medial frontal cortex, people were less inclined to reach for comforting religious ideas despite having been reminded of death,” Izuma said.

But although the experiment implies faith is nothing more than some chemical reactions in the front of the brain, Robert Cranston, neurologist and medical director of subspecialties at Carle Clinic Association in Urbana, Ill., says the research has really shown very little. The response was only temporary and partial, he said. It isn’t much different from intoxication. When people are under the influence of alcohol they do things their prefrontal cortex usually would not allow. Alcohol, drugs, electricity, or magnetic stimulation can overcome the prefrontal cortex. But “we are not pure neurons or pure neurotransmitters,” Cranston said. We have a soul.

The researchers also studied the way in which magnetic stimulation affected participants’ feelings about immigrants and found that subjects who received stimulation became 29 percent more positive in their feelings toward an immigrant who criticized their country.

Banana anti-virus

Bananas, America’s favorite fresh fruit, may soon have a new claim to fame.

Currently, no medications exist that can kill a broad variety of viruses. But now, an international team of researchers has genetically edited a protein found in bananas that can latch onto the surface of viruses and prevent them from invading cells.

The banana protein they used is a lectin called BanLec. In the past, researchers discovered that BanLec could prevent the AIDS virus from entering cells, but caused inflammation. The new form of BanLec has no such side effect. So far, researchers have used BanLec in tissue and blood samples to fight viruses that cause influenza, AIDS, and hepatitis C. It also prevented mice from getting influenza. It will be several years before researchers can test BanLec in humans. —J.B.