Science Can Now Create Telepathic Rats
” Neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis foresees a day when our brains really will be interconnected in what he calls a brain-net, and we won’t even need aliens to achieve it. In his lab at Duke University, Nicolelis has taken the first steps toward bringing brain-to-brain communication into reality by electronically connecting rats’ brains. The results are published in today’s issue of Scientific Reports.
In Nicolelis’s experiments, two thirsty rats are placed into separate, identical cages. They cannot see or hear each other, but their brains are wired together via electrode implants in their motor cortices.
The rats have been trained to push a lever on cue. In this case, the cue is a light that flashes above the correct lever. When the rat steps on the correct lever, it is rewarded with a sip of water. However, only the first rat sees the light signal. To get a taste of that sweet H2O, rat No. 2 has to interpret rat No. 1′s thoughts. “
Haven’t we seen that little guy somewhere before, on Capitol Hill?
Nah , he’s the invisible one behind the curtain , pulling the strings .