Post by Susieg on Oct 28, 2004 6:02:15 GMT
I could not believe this when I first read it, but maybe the Star Trek future is not as far away as we first imagined
A scientist at the University of Florida has made a remarkable breakthrough in neurological research.
He's grown a brain in a dish!
Thomas DeMarse, the professor of biomedical engineering behing the amazing project, began by taking 25,000 living neurons from the brain of a rat. He then cultured them in the glass dish, which has 60 electrodes in the base.
The neurons began reconnecting, and "grew" into a tiny working brain.
"You see one extend a process, pull it back, extend it out – and it may do that a couple of times, just sampling who’s next to it, until over time the connectivity starts to establish itself,” DeMarse said. “(The brain is) getting its network to the point where it’s a live computation device."
Once the miniature brain was up to speed, the electrodes in the dish were connected to a computer designed to simulate the F-22 fighter jet.
Over time, the information flowing to and from the computer allowed the brain to learn how to control the basic movement of the virtual plane.
"Initially when we hook up this brain to a flight simulator, it doesn’t know how to control the aircraft," he said. "The aircraft simply drifts randomly. And as the data comes in, it slowly modifies the (neural) network so over time, the network gradually learns to fly the aircraft."
The applications of this remarkable technology go beyond the realms of science fiction and could have very real impacts on medicine and computing.
By studying the way the neurons interact in this living brain, it is hoped that scientists will be able to find out how to treat, and even prevent, neurological conditions such as epilepsy.
It also brings the concept of bio-computing one step closer to reality, with the possibility of building organic components into complex computers. While electronic computers are incredibly fast, they struggle with object recognition and are restricted by their physical memory.
Organic computers could have vast memory stores, much as we can remember things from decades ago, and may even be able to handle abstract ideas, recognise unfamiliar objects and learn about them through interaction. Such versatile computers would be invaluable for controlling remote rescue vehicles in disaster situations.
"We’re just starting out. But using this model will help us understand the crucial bit of information between inputs and the stuff that comes out," DeMarse said. "And you can imagine the more you learn about that, the more you can harness the computation of these neurons into a wide range of applications."
Taken fom the Health Section on the Supanet site
A scientist at the University of Florida has made a remarkable breakthrough in neurological research.
He's grown a brain in a dish!
Thomas DeMarse, the professor of biomedical engineering behing the amazing project, began by taking 25,000 living neurons from the brain of a rat. He then cultured them in the glass dish, which has 60 electrodes in the base.
The neurons began reconnecting, and "grew" into a tiny working brain.
"You see one extend a process, pull it back, extend it out – and it may do that a couple of times, just sampling who’s next to it, until over time the connectivity starts to establish itself,” DeMarse said. “(The brain is) getting its network to the point where it’s a live computation device."
Once the miniature brain was up to speed, the electrodes in the dish were connected to a computer designed to simulate the F-22 fighter jet.
Over time, the information flowing to and from the computer allowed the brain to learn how to control the basic movement of the virtual plane.
"Initially when we hook up this brain to a flight simulator, it doesn’t know how to control the aircraft," he said. "The aircraft simply drifts randomly. And as the data comes in, it slowly modifies the (neural) network so over time, the network gradually learns to fly the aircraft."
The applications of this remarkable technology go beyond the realms of science fiction and could have very real impacts on medicine and computing.
By studying the way the neurons interact in this living brain, it is hoped that scientists will be able to find out how to treat, and even prevent, neurological conditions such as epilepsy.
It also brings the concept of bio-computing one step closer to reality, with the possibility of building organic components into complex computers. While electronic computers are incredibly fast, they struggle with object recognition and are restricted by their physical memory.
Organic computers could have vast memory stores, much as we can remember things from decades ago, and may even be able to handle abstract ideas, recognise unfamiliar objects and learn about them through interaction. Such versatile computers would be invaluable for controlling remote rescue vehicles in disaster situations.
"We’re just starting out. But using this model will help us understand the crucial bit of information between inputs and the stuff that comes out," DeMarse said. "And you can imagine the more you learn about that, the more you can harness the computation of these neurons into a wide range of applications."
Taken fom the Health Section on the Supanet site
Wonder if he could grow me a new one! 
