I saw an article a few years ago that I thought just amazing. Anyone I tell about it is similarly stunned. Someone demanded the source article and some references. So I provided them. I hate to waste research so you'll benefit, too.
Basically, the original article talks about how researchers at the University of Florida scooped the brain out of a rat fetus, grew it in a petri dish until there was and array of 25,000 cells. They hooked up 60 electrodes and the rat brain learned how to fly an F-22 flight simulator. Not at first, obviously. At first it wiped out a few hundred times. But it slowly got better and better and the neural network developed in response to the controls.
Don't believe it?
I first heard about it from "The Register".
http://www.theregister.com/2004/12/07/rat_brain_flies_jet/
The University of Florida announcement
http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2004news/braindish.htm
A picture of the doctor
http://www.bme.ufl.edu/contact/directory/detail_person.php?PEOPLE_id=2
The article in the Australian newspaper "The Age"
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/06/1102182227308.html#
National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/1119_041119_brain_petri_dish.html
Discovery Channel
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041018/brain.html
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/11/02/brain.dish/
Wired
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/10/65438
Just Google "Rat brain F-22" and you'll get a zillion hits.
No comments:
Post a Comment