Remote control of living organisms has recently been a lot of fiction. And if insect scientists still somehow cope, here to control mammal experts were much more difficult. But, as reports edition of Nature Neuroscience, the group of Korean neuroscientists recently managed to remotely control lab rats.
For implementation conceived in the brain of animals were implanted with a sensor of optical fiber, which stimulated part of the brain responsible for movement. The sensor is photosensitive, and in fact the control animal was fed with the aid of the light beam. In order to identify those responsible for certain movements area scientists during the preliminary tests, scanned the brain of rodents to determine which groups of neurons aktiviziruyutsya, when the animal sees a new object. Then, the electrodes of the implant were connected to those zones, and when the researchers applied animal light animals could not tear myself away from the object and chased him until the light does not turn off.
But the most impressive part of the experiment was to come: experts have placed in a specially created maze of the female (as all carriers implants were males) and the feeder with food. In front of the muzzle of the rodent hung a ball, which could be remotely rotated by means of Wi-Fi. In the end, the rodents took the route, subject only to the following object: when changing the position of the ball and was conducted stimulation of the implant – the animals ran after him, not paying attention to females and food.
Korean scientists were able to remotely control the rodents
Vladimir Kuznetsov