Are you terrible at math? British scientists can fix that. 
While it doesn’t involve hours of math homework, it does involve some gentle electricity to the brain. The idea is to stimulate the nerves that are in parts of the brain that are close to the surface by sending electricity in through the skull - though not by way of an electrical socket.
University of Oxford scientists used a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to literally jolt the part of the brain where math is processed. Researchers used electrical stimulation equipment on 15 volunteers to see if the subjects would benefit from the electrical treatment. The session only lasted about 15 minutes.
The researchers claim this stimulation can enhance a normal person’s math skills for six months.
In the experiment, the volunteers were asked to learn new symbols (to avoid involving any previous knowledge of math). The subjects showed an improved ability to organize numbers.
Dyscalculia is kind of like dyslexia. People with the math disability have a hard time learning mathematics. The condition afflicts 20 percent of the population.
“We’ve shown before that we can induce dyscalculia, and now it seems we might be able to make someone better at maths, so we really want to see if we can help people with dyscalculia, with a possible benefit to the general public,” said Cohen Kadosh of Oxford University, in a statement.
“Electrical stimulation is unlikely to turn you into the next Einstein, but if we’re lucky it might be able to help some people to cope better with maths,” Kadosh said.
If the experiment worked for normal people, the British researchers want to see if the stimulation will help people with lower than average math skills too. And they figure, if it works for math it will probably work language.
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Jim Stinear told Discovery News: “Coffee can help you wake up, but if you just sit on the couch you still aren’t being productive. The same goes for TDCS.”
