Are you one of those smart phone users who simply can’t be parted from your phone, or one of those wifi junkies who travel from hotspot to hotspot simply looking for your next fix? Well there may be good news for you, as scientists from Duke University School of Medicine have been working on a way to mind meld humans with technology. That’s right, just like the Borg, you too could become one with machine and share a single consciousness with all of your friends! Okay, well maybe not just yet, but they’re certainly making advances in that direction.
We are the Borg. Resistance is Futile. You will be assimilated.
Courtesy of ragokin via Youtube
That’s right all you Trekkies, resistance may soon enough be futile, as researchers from Duke have successfully linked a pair of rat brains. Using arrays of microelectrodes, researchers attached the motor cortexes of the two rat brains. This allowed the two rats to transmit and receive tactile and motor information to and from each other at will.
In their experiment, both rats were trained to perform certain tasks based on certain stimulus. The rats were then put into separate testing areas and connected via this brain linkage – one was only given the stimulus and the other was put in the response area. The experimenters ran a number of different tests; from making one rat push certain levers based on what light another was shown, to making one rat believe that it had detected infrared light, when there was no light source present. The results were astounding to researchers, as in their first test, the rats achieved a 70% success rate, which was only just slightly less than the maximum 78% success rate that the researchers had deemed possible. Although the experiments were all different, the results were all significant, showing that the rats were consciously communicating. Furthermore, it appeared that the communication was not a one-way street, but instead that the rats were responding to one another. This was indicated by slight changes in the rats’ brain function and behavior – a behavior believed to be as a result of a mutual and concerted effort.
To put all doubt to rest as well as to test the bounds of the connection, the researchers separated the two rats completely – not just in different testing rooms or different buildings, but on two completely different continents. The rat receiving the stimulus was put in Natal, Brazil and the rat performing the actions was put in Durham, N.C., USA. The connection was established using an Internet connection. Miguel Pais-Vera, PhD, was amazed that even despite the distance and the lag associated with Internet connections, the rats were still able to complete the tasks while maintaining a significant level of success. He continued by saying that this research was promising and that in time “it could be possible the create a workable, network of animal brains distributed in many different locations.”
If not the Borg, it may be a bit closer to this.
Courtesy of Its me simon, via Flickr Creative Commons
– Brian Kahnamelli
