Discover - USA (2020-01 & 2020-02)

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In February, a very real paper ran in Scientific Reports

titled, “Human Mind Control of Rat Cyborg’s Continuous

Locomotion with Wireless Brain-to-Brain Interface.” It

described how existing technology — such as brain-brain

interfaces (BBIs) and, incredibly, rat cyborgs — can work together

to produce that eye-popping title.

BBIs and brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) have already helped

improve how people control prosthetics and other devices. But

the technology can also function the other way around — instead

of a brain controlling a device, a machine can alter brain patterns

or “import tactile information back to the brain,” as the study’s

authors put it. So, in effect, BMIs could allow for mechanically

“controlling” others’ brains.

Here’s how it works in practice: A human manipulator has

movement-related thoughts, which a wearable EEG — a device

that records brain wave patterns — picks up and transfers to

a computer. The computer translates that signal into “control

instructions” and wirelessly beams them into a receiver on the

back of a rat. The receiver then sends them into the rat’s brain via

pre-installed electrodes. And the rat responds to the instructions

in its brain by actually doing them.

“With this interface, our manipulators were able to mind con-

trol a rat cyborg to smoothly complete maze navigation tasks,”

the authors write.

I know what you’re thinking (a chilling phrase given the

context): Is this for real?

“[The study] is for real, and I don’t see anything implau-

sible about it,” says University of Washington brain researcher

Andrea Stocco, who was not involved with the work. He sug-

gests the tech could be useful for improving augmented reality

systems or even helping an expert surgeon remotely control a

local doctor’s hands in a delicate operation.

But, he says, “the holy grail of BBI would be sharing rich con-

tent that cannot be better expressed in words, such as emotions

and feelings. We are still so far from that, but, of course, that

would be the dream.”

15

Mind-Controlled Rats

Are Now a Thing

BY BILL ANDREWS

How to Tell a Rat Where to Go

Source: Zhang, Shaomin, et al,

Scientific Reports, 2019

Camera

As a human watches

the video, their

movement-related

thoughts provide

direction.

Thoughts are

processed into

microelectric

instructions and

sent to rat’s brain.

Live video

from the maze