Chemical weapons targeting the mind 'could turn the brain into a battlefield'

Sophisticated and deadly “brain weapons” that can attack or alter human consciousness, perception, memory or behaviour are no longer the stuff of science fiction, two British academics say.

- Mark Brown

This weekend, Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dando from Bradford University are travelling to The Hague in the Netherlands for a key meeting of states, arguing that the mind is a new frontier in warfare and there needs to be urgent global action to prevent the weaponisation of neuroscience.

“It does sound like science fiction,” said Crowley. “The danger is that it becomes science fact.”

The pair have also written a book, to be published next week by the Royal Society of Chemistry, which they say should be a wake-up call to the world. It explores how advances in neuroscience, pharmacology and AI are coming together to create a new global threat.

“We are entering an era where the brain itself could become a battlefield,” Crowley said. “The tools to manipulate the central nervous system - to sedate, confuse, or even coerce - are becoming more precise, more accessible and more attractive to states.”

The book traces the history of state-sponsored research into chemicals that act on the central nervous system (CNS). It is a fascinating, if appalling, journey.