The REAL brain drain: Modern technology - including violent video games - is changing the way our brains work, says neuroscientist

And it's caused by one simple fact: the human brain, that most sensitive of organs, is under threat from the modern world.

Unless we wake up to the damage that the gadget-filled, pharmaceutically-enhanced 21st century is doing to our brains, we could be sleepwalking towards a future in which neuro-chip technology blurs the line between living and non-living machines, and between our bodies and the outside world.

Already, an electronic chip is being developed that could allow a paralysed patient to move a robotic limb just by thinking about it.

What if we could create an environment that would allow the brain to develop in a way that was seen to be of universal benefit?

But I'm also concerned that we seem to be so oblivious to the dangers that are already upon us.