When wearable tech makes you smarter -- by zapping your brain

A slew of controversial, DIY methods of brain stimulation have culminated in the Focus headset. But take note: It's not yet known whether augmenting the mind is truly safe.

Wearable tech can track your sleep patterns, give you walking directions that float above your eye, and measure your heart rate using the shirt on your back. But can a wearable gadget make you think faster, or even make you momentarily smarter?
Turns out, it can. But only by attaching electrodes to your head that shock your brain, which is how devices like the Focus headset work. The Focus is designed for gamers --- only if you're 18 years old, or older -- and made headlines in May when its Web site opened for preorders. The Focus marks the first device of its kind, and it could bring what is now a cutting-edge enthusiast activity into the mainstream.
The unknown, however, is just how safe it might be to clamp this type of device to your head on a daily basis. So far, scientists have tested the technology, but mainly to figure out if it's effective. And creating a mass consumer product of this sort raises whole new concerns. The medical community remains wary, and the Focus headset may force an answer that dictates the future of consumer enhancement products.
The technique in question is called tDCS, for transcranial direct current stimulation, and it's a brain stimulation method that involves sending very low amounts of electrical current through various parts of the brain to achieve different effects. Historically it's been reserved for medical treatment, and it was first used as far back as 1804. Recent studies have determined that minor stimulation can have positive effects on healthy brains. For example, shocking the prefrontal cortex, as the Focus device does, is thought to improve learning and working memory, while shocking the motor cortex may raise one's threshold for pain and improve the use of one's nondominant hand.
It sounds too good to be true, and in fact tDCS is widely believed to have few, if any, side effects for short-term use. It's also painless. Research even shows that it does work; a study published in Neuroscience Letters last year outlines how 33 individuals attempted to solve a logic puzzle with and without tDCS; 40 percent succeeding using stimulation and zero without it.

The tDCS enthusiast community is also blossoming, especially considering that stimulation can be replicated with do-it-yourself electrodes and over-the-counter batteries, as this YouTube tutorial outlines. Dave Siever, a Canadian man whose company, Mind Alive, makes a $650 tDCS device, swears by the technique, claiming it has improved his sense of pitch and even works as an antidepression device.