For anyone interested in how the brain operates, including its ability to adapt to new sensory input, I highly recommend Jeff Hawkins' book On Intelligence:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Intelligence" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Intelligence</a>
> The brain, it turns out, is dramatically more flexible than anyone previously thought, as if we had unused sensory ports just waiting for the right plug-ins.<p>It can't be that easy. It seems way too convenient that we do some DSP on our sensor equipment, put it next to the brain and suddenly we are conscious of some new sense. Maybe we could sense the new property somehow, but they better have some awesome results if they want me to believe that we will get something as detailed and perceptually unique as one of our natural senses.<p>That said, though...this is really cool and someone should make equipment like this so I can use it.