scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine and Stereotaxis, a firm in St Louis, us, are currently testing a modified version of the neurosurgical procedure called stereotaxis, named after the company. Stereotaxis is a technique that enables surgeons to treat damaged and diseased parts of the brain that are located deep within. The improved version, called the magnetic stereotaxis system, aims at reaching the disabled areas by damaging the healthy tissues of the brain to the least extent possible. For instance, a patient being treated for Parkinson's disease would have only one path of neurons damaged as opposed to six with the conventional method ( Scientific American , Vol 275, No 2).

Magnetic stereotaxis involves the insertion of a magnetic pallet