Technological advances are now making it possible for what we see in science fiction works in many different areas to become reality. Now, a study published in the academic journal Neuron reveals that scientists from an Australia-based company have developed artificial brain cells.

According to the BBC report, researchers from the company Cortical Labs, brain cells in a laboratory setting developed. Moreover, these cells were reported to have a very interesting ability. According to experts, this ‘mini brain’ is can play games.

Artificial brain cells learned the popular game Pong. from the 70s games

Scientists have found that 800,000 artificial brain cells called “mini-brains” can sense and respond to their environment, and that they are similar to tennis that debuted in the 1970s. that you can play the game of pong stated. One of the researchers, Dr. Brett Kagan also claimed to have succeeded in creating a ‘sensitive’ brain for the first time in the lab. Other experts, on the other hand, described the study as “exciting” and said it’s a bit too much to define “sensitive” for now.

In his statements about Kagan’s work, “We couldn’t find a better term to describe the device. It can receive, process, and can respond in real time” used his statements. Mini brains were the first 2013 It was reported that it was produced to study microcephaly, the genetic disease in which the brain is small, and has been used in brain development research ever since. The new study also enabled cells to interact with an external environment, in this case a video game, for the first time.

For the experiment, the researchers collected mouse cells from embryonic brains and some human brain cells derived from stem cells. The cells show which side the ball is on in Pong and how far it is from the thing that acts as a paddle. electrodes connected to the game. Pong, one of the oldest arcade games, is a table tennis game where the ball must be kept within the playing field.

After this, the cells were observed to produce their own electrical activity. The feedback from the electrodes made the cells act like rackets and taught them how to bounce the ball back. Experts, your mini-brain to play in five minutes He said he had learned. In addition, they often miss the ball; But the success rate is higher than random chance was also added. The researchers also noted that these unconscious cells can’t play the game like a human does.

Can be used to test treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease

Dr Kagan, Exciting Technology Alzheimer’s He says it could be used to test treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as: The researcher stressed the need for more studies and said he plans to study the effects of alcohol on the mini-brain’s ability to play Pong later. To test. This will show whether the human brain reacts in a similar way. This will reveal how effective the system is for use in experiments.