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Neurophysiologists have created a "living" computer
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Neurophysiologists from a private research university in North Carolina managed to connect the brains of several animals into a single system. As a result, a kind of local network was created, and the animals were able to jointly solve the task set before them more effectively than one individual.
The researchers themselves say their study clearly shows that it is possible to create an interacting system with the ability to “connect together,” and they hope that such a system will develop and eventually reach the point where it can be tested in humans.
Experts noted that this invention could well be useful in medicine. Miguel Nicolelis, who was one of the first to work in the field of neuroprosthetics, took part in the study. For several years, he worked on the creation of microscopic chips, special electrodes and programs that could be implanted in the brain and controlled through them not only artificial limbs or eyes, but also thermal imagers, X-ray imagers, etc.
A couple of years ago, Nicolelis and his colleagues managed to do the impossible and unite the brains of two rats that were located thousands of kilometers apart into a single whole, creating a kind of local network and the animals were able to transmit information to each other over a distance.
Recently, Nicolelis' research group was able to develop new models of collective neural interfaces. One model involves combining the brains of several monkeys into a single network, while the second allowed the creation of a "living" computer from several rats.
The first model proved its functionality after three rhesus macaques, whose brains were connected into a single network, were able to control the movement of a virtual hand on a monitor screen. Each monkey controlled one of the axes of movement. Seven hundred electrodes that connected the brains of the three animals allowed them not only to transmit information about the location of the hand to each other, but also to jointly direct it.
It took the animals little time to learn to control the virtual hand, with three monkeys doing it almost as well as one.
A second model from Nicolelis' research group showed that living organisms could be combined into a kind of computer: four rats were able to predict the weather and solve simple computational problems.
According to the researchers themselves, their work has proven that the nervous system of several living organisms can be combined into a single system. The animal model shows that several individuals are capable of solving more complex problems that are often beyond the power of one, which is clearly seen in the example of four rats whose rain predictions were more accurate, in addition, thanks to the unification, the rats' brains were able to solve complex problems an order of magnitude faster.
Now Nicolelis' team, together with other neurophysiologists, is developing a way to conduct experiments involving people. Linking several people into a single network will make it possible to "teach" paralyzed or disabled people to use a prosthesis or walk again, which is of great importance from a medical point of view.