Wouldn’t it be cool if we could just insert a chip in our heads that suddenly allowed us to pilot a helicopter like Trinity did in the Matrix? Well, that’s not a far-off possibility. Scientists have now developed a prosthetic chip that allows rats to suddenly learn a specific behavior with a mere flick of a switch. All of this extremely fascinating (and slightly disturbing) experiments is the work of Theodore Berger of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. According to him, it’s pretty straightforward. “Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off, and the rats forget.” The chip allows rats to enhance and expand their learning abilities, and stores all of this learned actions in the device. Aside from the possibility of creating devices that allow humans to learn, stuff, on the fly, the work being done by Berger and his team may lead to cures for people who have Alzheimers, suffered strokes and other diseases that affect the brain.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: PR Newswire