Cyborg Rat Brain of the Day: Researchers led by Matti Mintz of Tel Aviv University have created an artificial cerebellum that can successfully emulate the real thing in rats.
The synthetic cerebellum is a chip that can read sensory inputs from the brain stem, interpret them, and then signal motor neurons to move parts of the body. According to Mintz, “It’s proof of concept that we can record information from the brain, analyze it in a way similar to the biological network, and return it to the brain.”
The actual experiment involved disabling a rat’s cerebellum, hooking up the synthetic version via electrodes, and then using a puff of air to train the rat to blink every time it heard a tone. Without the chip connected, the rat couldn’t learn the motor reflex, but once the artificial cerebellum was activated, it was able to learn normally.
This doesn’t mean replacement brain parts are right around the corner: the experiment hasn’t yet been tried with a sequence of movements, or tested in a conscious animal.
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