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Brain in a petri dish learns how to fly a fighter plane. Nothing to worry about here, citizen. [I Heart Tech]

January 11th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Florida scientists have grown a brain in a petri dish and taught it to pilot an F-22 jet simulator.

The 25,000 neurons were suspended in a specialised liquid to keep them alive and then laid across a grid of 60 electrodes in a small glass dish.

Under the microscope they looked at first like grains of sand, but soon the cells begin to connect to form what scientists are calling a “live computation device” (a brain). The electrodes measure and stimulate neural activity in the network, allowing researchers to study how the brain processes, transforms and stores information.

In the most striking experiment, the brain was linked to the jet simulator. Manipulated by the electrodes and a desktop computer, it was taught to control the flight path, even in mock hurricane-strength winds.

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