Neuroscientists have long observed biophotons produced in brain tissue. Nobody knows what these photons are for, but researchers are beginning to explore the possibilities.

The finnish trade register has just announced, that the HumanCharger manufacturer Valkee Ltd has lost all of its share capital. That means, that all of the company’s ressources are depleted, and new capital is not in sight – not even theoretically.

Targeting the treatment of chronic pain and other neurological disorders, the on-off switches of optogenetics are transforming neurosciences. So far used in lab animals such as mice, a wireless signal activates LEDs located near an animal’s spinal cord so that a blue light turns on genetically modified neurons, while a yellow light turns them off. This enables researchers to discover the brain paths involved in such conditions as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as depression.

Inserting the LEDs near the spine of mice, however, is a bit different than in their human counterparts. The procedure involves the genetic engineering of neurons so that molecular switches that activate and deactivate cells can occur and an optical fiber would need to be placed in the brain to trigger the switches.

Optogenetics is a marvel of our age, enabling neuroscientists to turn brain cells on and off with pulses of light. But until now there’s been an obvious difficulty: How do you deliver that light to brain cells that are tucked inside an animal’s skull?

Today we get the best answer yet, from the Stanford lab of Ada Poon. She and her colleagues have invented a tiny, wireless LED device that can be fully implanted beneath the skin of a mouse. The device lets researchers turn on the light and stimulate neurons when the mouse is scampering around, behaving more or less normally. This system, described today in the journal Nature Methods, seems a big improvement over previous technology, which used wires or bulky head-mounted devices to activate the light switch.

Here’s a quick optogenetics primer, in case you need it. The technique makes use of neurons that have been genetically altered to respond to light, often with the introduction of genes from a strain of green algae. Researchers can control which part of a mouse brain contains these light-sensitive neurons, and they can then study the function of that brain region by activating the neurons—essentially turning them on and off—while watching the animal’s behavior. Using this method, scientists can learn about basic brain anatomy or study dysfunctions seen in human diseases.

The first optogenetics systems used fiber optic cables to deliver the light, which meant the mice had wires coming out of their heads and couldn’t move around much. Over the past five years, researchers have worked on wireless systems, in which a head-mounted device receives the signal to stimulate and triggers an implanted LED.

The point of these experiments were not to hurt mice, of course, but to demonstrate that neuroscience has a cool new tool, and a new way to illuminate the mysteries of the brain.

This animation illustrates optogenetics — a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light.

http://video.mit.edu/watch/optogenetics-controlling-the-brain-with-light-7659/

In 2006 Nokia engineer Antti Aunio and biologist Juuso Nissilä applied for a Finnish patent for a device consisting of ear-plugs that could deliver LED light into the ear canals, and a small controller box. 1 According to Nissilä, the product idea was possibly born as early as 2005

In spring 2007, their company Valkee Ltd. was founded to further develop (industry speak for to market) the device.

They convinced Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s no.2, and later some venture capitalists, to invest into the start-up

It was easy, however, to obtain authority approval for their ”medical device”, which is available in Europe for useless or even potentially dangerous things.

The launch of the ”light headset” in 2010 was accompanied by an intense PR campaign, the most notable event being the INNOSUOMI award presented by the Finnish President Tarja Halonen, acquired by Valkee with false claims. 6 The story of the innovative young firm from the north, promising help for the many sufferers of Finlands national disease, Seasonal Affective Disorder, hit the media like a bombshell. A profitable business with world-wide markets was exactly what the nation needed and wanted, at the time of Nokia’s spectacular downturn which left thousands unemployed and the Finnish state whithout it’s most important taxpayer.

At this point, Valkee could only cite a small unpublished open study.

Christmas however, did not bring great sales for Valkee
In spring 2011, they were also scientifically bancrupt

Nobody stood up to destroy the illusion, when Valkee announced dubious ”scientific revolutions” in the press. The scam went unnoticed by the scientific community. Valkee provided just stuff that looked like science, enough to sell the fake story.

The majority of the public although, remained sceptic, but critics were silenced when Valkee announced a positive randomized controlled study in November 2011, making it into the TV evening news. 12 The results were clumsily falsified

The Scam is Busted

Valkee, however, overdid the bad thing, and in February 2012 a whistleblower teamed up with two well-known finnish journalists, Renny Jokelin and Magnus Berglund (3-times Prix Europa nominee and famous for busting the Patria scandal). They made a piece for MOT, a TV program

It effectively ended Valkee’s media misuse overnight. The next day, Nissilä confirmed the key facts from MOT in a radio interview, but still claimed to have made a scientific revolution

Valkee tricked at least some 10.000 people into buying this expensive toy. Their markets are now the UK, Germany, even Japan.

There is still not a single peer-reviewed article supporting this “innovation”, and strong evidence against it.

The finnish earlight seller Valkee Ltd. sent forth lawyers and tried to misuse police force in a failed attempt to silence this website, which is criticizing the company’s practices. The prosecution was stopped now by the officials, declaring there has been no wrongdoing.

The full document set is not yet available to the public, because it may still be sealed by the authorities.

Earlightswindle.com tries to get the scans as soon as they become available.

Valkee Ltd demanded to close this website within weeks of its establishment in late 2012. Until then, the critical view on the once-applauded, self-declared startup firm had less than 50 visitors.

They did not demand factual corrections. Instead, the earlight firm made clear that this website had to disappear before it could be noticed by the general public.

The successive additions to earlightswindle.com during 2013 coincided with Valkee’s problems after reports by a now-critical mainstream press, and the widely recognized 2012 FlimFlam award. Social media picked up the Valkee story in August 2013, overshadowing the launch of the Valkee 2 device. The company had a defensive reply attached to its most important campaign in years. A catastrophic event in marketing terms, followed by the even more devastating independent trial countering their 2013 Christmas campaign. Something had to be done.

A Valkee representant made a complaint to the finnish police in January 2014. Earlightswindle.com was said to cause massive damage to the company. The person they made responsible should be punished, and convicted to pay compensation.

In May 2014, a renewed complaint came in. Valkee saw this site as a vital threat to its operations and shareholders. It urged the officers to act immediately, because now a twitter account EarLightSwindle existed, making the information available to an even bigger audience.

Finnish libel law only covers insults against persons. It rules out punishment for criticism made about one’s business, or science. But there is a foxhole: If the criticism is too sharp, and may directly harm a specific person, it leads to prosecution.

The criticism on this site is extreme, and the things told here are likely to hurt persons involved. Yet, it had to be false and mendacious. The truth cannot be unlawful.

Valkee Ltd has sold, or is selling, the earlight devices for
It has no accepted evidence for any of those claims. It has only an approval for SAD. So Valkee is per definitionem a scam, or health fraud, or however one may call this. Practically, and in legal terms.

After one year, the officers working on the case and the prosecutor made the decision to end the investigation, because it is highly unlikely to lead to a conviction under these circumstances. There has be no wrongdoing.

The important message is, that here is no slander, no lies, no defamation. Don’t expect Valkee to accept that.

I never told about these Valkee activities before, though I know that “the Internet” hates such commercial censorship. I was just so fed up with the evil.

http://earlightswindle.com/