Bio-Tech: Brain Modifications
The adult human brain weighs only three pounds, but has been described as the most complex object known to science. It contains some hundred billion nerve cells, including specialized neurons devoted to higher cognitive functions such as reasoning, emotion, and language.
The brain consists of two large, wrinkled, dome-shaped cerebral hemispheres that together form the cerebrum, the site of reasoned mental activity. At the lower rear is the cerebellum, which coordinates the body's movements. The central part of the brain includes the thalamus, which controls sensory awareness, the limbic system, which affects glandular functions and emotions, and the hippocampus, associated with memory, personality, learning, and will. The lower part of the brain, the "primitive" brain stem, controls automatic body processes including the heartbeat, respiration, and digestion. Engineering mental traits such as intelligence, alertness, memory, or specific aptitudes is difficult, because these traits are more abstract than physical ones. Exactly how much of "intelligence" is genetic and how much is environmental is not only controversial, but any answer also depends on how you measure and define intelligence.
However, traits ranging from self-control to high intelligence appear to be connected to specific gene sequences that govern the exact mix of hormones and other neurotransmitters produced by the body. Scientists have found human genes that appear to correlate with mental stability, shyness, impulsiveness (which, through mitigation, may lead to Common Sense) and memory, among other characteristics.
In this realm, gengineering works hand in glove with neurology and molecular neuropsychology. Today, radioisotope-labeled monoclonal antibodies are used to locate neurotransmitters in the brain, and imaging systems have begun to observe the brain's neurochemical activity as it occurs. As these techniques are refined at TL9+, neurogeneticists can study the molecular changes that occur while people stay awake, endure pain, memorize, solve math problems, and so on. Then they can design nucleotide sequences that will optimize the brain's neurochemistry or structure toward specific activities.
Brain Modifications
| Trait | Cost | TL |
|---|---|---|
| 3D Spatial Sense | 10 | 10 |
| Ambidexterity | 5 | 10 |
| Autotrance | 1 | 10 |
| Common Sense | 10 | 10 |
| Compartmentalized Mind 1-2 | 50/level | 11* |
| Eidetic Memory | 5 | 9 |
| Intuition | 15 | 10 |
| Intuitive Mathematician | 5 | 10 |
| IQ -1 to -4 | -20 per -1 IQ | 9 |
| IQ +1 | 20 | 9 |
| IQ +2 | 40 | 10 |
| IQ +3 | 60 | 11* |
| IQ +4 | 80 | 12* |
| Language Talent | 10 | 10 |
| Lightning Calculator | 2 | 10 |
| Mathematical Ability | 10/level | 9 |
| Musical Ability | 5/level | 10 |
| Perception +1 | 5 | 9 |
| Perception +2 | 10 | 11 |
| Photographic Memory | 10 | 10 |
| Single-Minded | 5 | 9 |
| Versatile | 5 | 10 |
| Will -1 to -3 | -5 per -1 Will | 9 |
| Will -4 to -5 | -5 per -1 Will | 10 |
| Will +1 | 5 | 10 |
| Will +2 | 10 | 12 |