Scientists have issued an ominous warning over mind-altering 'brain weapons' that can target your perception, memory, and even behaviour.

In a newly published book, Dr Michael Crowley and Professor Malcolm Dando, of Bradford University, argue that recent scientific advances should be a 'wake-up call'.

Professor Dando says: 'The same knowledge that helps us treat neurological disorders could be used to disrupt cognition, induce compliance, or even in the future turn people into unwitting agents.'

Nations including the US, China, Russia, and the UK have been researching so-called central nervous system (CNS)-acting weapons since the 1950s.

Now, Dr Crowley and Professor Dando argue that modern neuroscience has become so advanced that truly terrifying mind weapons could be created.

Professor Dando says: 'We are entering an era where the brain itself could become a battlefield.

'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.'

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, most of the world's major powers 'actively sought' to develop their own mind-controlling weapons.

Their goal was to create devices that could incapacitate large numbers of people through unconsciousness, hallucination, disorientation, or sedation.

Most famously, the American military developed the compound 'BZ', which produces a powerful sense of delirium, hallucinations, and cognitive dysfunction.

The US manufactured approximately 60,000 kilograms of the potent drug and used it to create a 340-kilogram (750 lbs) cluster bomb.

Although the bomb was intended to be used in Vietnam, and BZ was tested intensively on US soldiers, there's no evidence that the weapon was ever used.

Meanwhile, the Chinese military has developed a 'narcosis-gun' designed to shoot syringes of incapacitating chemicals.

However, Dr Crowley and Professor Dando point out, the only time that a CNS-targeting weapon has ever been used in combat was by Russian security forces during the 2002 Moscow theatre siege.