THE age of the living robot is upon us. But this is no elaborate half-creature half-machine chimera. All it takes to turn a living rat into a radio-controlled automaton is three electrodes carefully placed in the animal’s brain. Simply pressing keys on a computer 500 metres away will then steer the animal over an obstacle course, making it twist, turn and even jump on demand.
The researchers responsible for the “Robo Rat” claim their work will give neuro-scientists a better understanding of how mammals learn to navigate. They say it will help pinpoint biochemical changes in the brain, and which…
