Rats brains linked in 'organic computer' breakthrough
Experiments an important step in development of an 'organic computer', say study scientists
Scientists have connected the brains of a pair of rats and allowed them to share sensory information and experience each other's environment in a major step towards what the researchers call the world's first "organic computer".
The US team fitted two rats with devices called brain-to-brain interfaces that let the animals collaborate on simple tasks to earn rewards, such as a drink of water.
In one radical demonstration of the technology, the scientists used the internet to link the brains of rats separated by thousands of kilometres, with one in the researchers' lab at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the other in Natal, Brazil.
Led by Miguel Nicolelis, a pioneer of devices that allow paralysed people to control computers and robotic arms with their thoughts, the researchers say their latest work may enable multiple brains to be hooked up to share information.
"These experiments showed that we have established a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between brains," Nicolelis said. "Basically, we are creating what I call an organic computer."
These experiments showed that we have established a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between brains
The scientists first demonstrated that rats can share, and act on, each other's sensory information by electrically connecting their brains via tiny grids of electrodes that reach into the motor cortex, the brain region that processes movement.