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Duke University neuroscientists have linked the brains of three rhesus macaque monkeys together using a brain-to-brain interface:
The neural network created, which the researchers call a 'Brainet', lets the animals share both sensory and motor information with one another, enabling them to complete tasks via their collective thoughts. This means they could potentially outperform a regular brain, because they now have access to the resources of a hive mind.
"Essentially, we created a super-brain," Miguel Nicolelis, the lead author of the study, told Hannah Devlin at The Guardian. "A collective brain created from three monkey brains. Nobody has ever done that before."
In the monkeys experiment, the researchers wired together three rhesus macaque monkeys and implanted receptors in their motor and somatosensory cortices to capture and transmit the brain activity. Once connected, the three monkeys were able to control the movements of a virtual avatar's arm on a computer screen in front of them. Each monkey had control over only two dimensions of movement, requiring the concentration of at least two of the three animals to successfully move the arm.
A separate experiment linked four rat brains together. From the abstract:
Cortical neuronal activity was recorded and analyzed in real time, and then delivered to the somatosensory cortices of other animals that participated in the Brainet using intracortical microstimulation (ICMS). Using this approach, different Brainet architectures solved a number of useful computational problems, such as discrete classification, image processing, storage and retrieval of tactile information, and even weather forecasting. Brainets consistently performed at the same or higher levels than single rats in these tasks. Based on these findings, we propose that Brainets could be used to investigate animal social behaviors as well as a test bed for exploring the properties and potential applications of organic computers.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @04:16PM
That depends, research is often not pretty do pictures that make you uncomfortable trump the benefits to society animal testing has provide?
If your not sure, think of anyone you know who's diabetic and not dead. Anyone you know with a transplanted organ that's not dead. How many people would have died from polio? Even high blood pressure which was originally discovered by testing on dogs.
Should you be appalled? Personally i think grateful for the sacrafice these animals made and to the scientists who endured having to do these distasteful things to provide the benefits we take for granted. (most of which take no pleasure in the act)
(Score: 1) by blackhawk on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:49PM
Since animals aren't capable of consent, they can't consent to be a sacrifice. Therefore all animals used in such pursuits are done so without the consent of the animal required. In human terms it's murder, but since we don't provide animals any form of rights it's just commerce.
We could equally use humans who can't give consent. And let's face it, giving consent on their behalf is just a few donations away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:38PM
usual tired arguments gets upvote, story at 6
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday July 11 2015, @06:39PM
Not all experimentation is equal, though. I'm fine with experimenting on the most appropriate species as required to learn how to save lives or make dramatic improvements — but not the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do ___" category this falls into, given they're not likely to attempt to connect human brains in the future as it wouldn't be approved, nor would it save lives, reverse serious defects/injuries or treat severe persistent problems.
FWIW my maternal grandmother died long before my birth in the experiments to figure out how to successfully perform cardiac bypass... I had early post-experimental birth defect surgery as a toddler, then became the sole survivor of highly experimental trachea surgery at the same time the Challenger was lost — so I'm highly aware of the benefits & risks of animal/human experimentation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:00PM
Not all experiments yield the results people expect, many great discoveries were accidents.
Often "I wonder what will happen if..." turns into "OMG I just saved the thousands/millions"
It's pretty easy to sit on your high horse enjoying the benefits of centuries of animal testing. Eating your hamburgers and taking the side that gives you the perceived moral high ground. All the while having benefited directly and only being a live because of that which you condem.
The scrutiny animal testing labs is far greater than any slaughter house or fish processing plant. And contributes to less than one, one thousandth of a percent of the animals "murdered" for "our amusement"
But if the benefit isnt immediate, direct and obvious. It must be evil murder.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @07:53PM
First let me start with a totally true personal story.
Then once your all sucked in and sympathetic, I'll oppose the thing that it sounds like i should support, therefore the audience will cheer for me.
This whole "well I of all people should appreciate this, but I don't so all of you shouldn't either" is a shitty argument "Now i'm going to draw an arbitrary line in the sand and decide that i dont see the merit in something, therefor its not worth doing, but if its something that just makes sense to me you go ahead and do all the animal torture you want, but this... well i can't imagine how this would help"
Thank god your just a guy commenting on the internet, and neither a scientist conducting research or a regulator opposing that which he may not understand.