Epilepsy and Chaos

     TWO POINT FIVE MILLION AMERICANS SUFFER FROM EPILEPSY AND THERE'S
CURRENTLY NO CURE. BUT DOCTORS HAVE HOPE THAT SOMEDAY WE COULD HAVE AN
EPILEPSY PACEMAKER THAT WOULD ARREST AN ONCOMING CONVULSION, MUCH LIKE
THOSE THAT MONITOR AND SUPPORT A WEAK HEART. SO, RESEARCHERS HAVE
EXAMINED JUST WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BRAIN DURING AN EPILEPTIC SEIZURE. THEY'VE
DISCOVERED THAT THE ELECTRICITY RUNNING AROUND THE BRAIN IS COMPLETELY
CHAOTIC--BUT NOT THE WAY WE NORMALLY THINK OF CHAOS. PHYSICIST WILLIAM
DITTO WHO STUDIES EPILEPSY AT THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINS:

     Ditto:"whenever we encounter. . . say a dripping faucet in the middle of the night that drives you
crazy or the stock market. . . we naturally tend to think well, they're random. . . chaotic systems. . . look
irregular, but they're not random. . . what they actually do is they have hidden patterns, many regular
patterns that kind of come in and out."
     USUALLY, NEURONS FIRING IN THE BRAIN ARE PRETTY RANDOM--LIKE THE
THOUSANDS OF CONVERSATIONS GOING ON IN A CROWDED STADIUM. (sfx: roar of stadium)
THE OVERALL DIN DOESN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE. BUT IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY,
SOMETIMES CERTAIN NEURONS IN THE BRAIN START FIRING OFF TOGETHER--AS IF
MAYBE EVERYONE IN THE STADIUM SUDDENLY STARTED CHANTING. (sfx: chanting) THE
SUDDEN STOMPING CAN SET OFF A SEIZURE. THIS GROUP-FIRING OF THE NEURONS ISN'T
PERFECTLY TIMED LIKE THE BEAT OF A DRUM, BUT ONE CAN SEE PATTERNS THERE,
WHICH IS WHY THE SYSTEM IS CONSIDERED CHAOTIC. AND SCIENTISTS KNOW HOW TO
CONTROL CHAOS.

     Ditto: "In a chaotic system, the slightest nudge can dramatically transform the system. . . into what
you want it to be as opposed to . . . what it wanted to be." 
     IT'S THE SMALLNESS OF THE NUDGE THAT LEAVES DITTO HOPEFUL THAT AN
EPILEPTIC PACEMAKER MIGHT BE POSSIBLE. ONLY A TINY ZAP OF ELECTRICITY MIGHT
BE ABLE TO BREAK UP THE CHANTING OF THE NEURONS AND PROTECT AGAINST A
CONVULSION. TRIALS TO SEE IF THEY CAN INDEED CONTROL CHAOS IN THE BRAIN
SHOULD BEGIN NEXT YEAR.