Neurons in a Dish Learn to Play Pong

A mass of brain cells act as a computer that mimics a human being playing the classic computer game Pong. The neurons, some taken from mouse embryos, others grown from human precursor cells, spread out into a one-layer, 800,000-cell mesh called a biological neural network, which lives in a giant petri dish called the DishBrain. There it interfaces with arrays of electrodes that form an interface to silicon hardware. Software mounted on that hardware provides stimulation and feedback, and the minibrain learns how to control a paddle on a simulated ping-pong table.

Video courtesy: Brett Kagan/Cortical Labs

#neuroscience #neuralnetwork #videogames

[withagwyn]

Ah sweet, man-made horror beyond my comprehension.

[fburton]

Hmm, it's not very good at the game, is it?

[johnnyBrwn]

Wow, that's amazing. I wonder what the cost comparison is between 1 million neurons vs. 1 million transistors. Also, it seems a little gratuitous as we'd need to harm living things (directly) to extract the neurons, whereas all we have to do today is print out a few wafers. Not sure what necessitates the jump to mice.

[happy_hour]

Can we see more of bio stuff? Petri dishes etc? It's cool and all but i hope one day we'll see some raw materials.