Man Controls Live Animal With His Mind

Image Credit: Overture Films

World’s First Brain-To-Brain Connection

Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston have established a non-invasive, brain-to-brain interface (BBI) that allowed human participants to move a rat’s tail with their thoughts via EEG and focused ultrasound signals.

The rat was anesthetized for the experiment and the human volunteer was equipped with an EEG to translate brain commands.

In the experiments that were published this week, the human was able to signal a command to a computer using nothing but his his mind, which subsequently shot a burst pulse to the brain of a sedated rat.

The pulse reached the area associated with motor control in the rat, and with 94% accuracy and a lag time of only 1.6 seconds, the human consistently made the tail move using nothing but his brainwaves.

The study concluded, “Our results demonstrate the feasibility of a computer-mediated BBI (brain-to-brain interface) that links central neural functions between two biological entities, which may confer unexplored opportunities in the study of neuroscience with potential implications for therapeutic applications.”

PLOS One via PopSci

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