Australian researchers report training lab-grown human brain cells to control a silicon system to play the 1990s video game “Doom.” The work uses “biological computer” setups in which living brain cells—grown from stem cells derived from human blood donations—are interfaced with a chip. According to the accounts, the researchers place roughly 200,000 neurons in each experimental device and use the cells’ activity as a way to influence the game controls. The team demonstrates that the neurons can learn to interact with the system in a way that produces gameplay outcomes, though the results are described as early and limited. The researchers say the experiment is a starting point and that it remains to be seen what more complex tasks neurons could perform in this chip-based configuration. Overall, the outlets characterize the study as proof-of-concept research exploring how cultured neurons can be connected to electronic hardware for interactive computing experiments.
Australian researchers train lab-grown brain cells to play Doom on a chip
Australian researchers report training lab-grown human brain cells to control a silicon system to play the 1990s video game “Doom.” The work uses “biological computer” setups in which living brain cel...
- Australian researchers use lab-grown human brain cells connected to a silicon computer chip to play “Doom.”
- The brain cells are grown from stem cells taken from human blood donations.
- Each experimental setup contains about 200,000 living brain cells.
- The researchers describe the results as early-stage and say they are only beginning to explore what the neurons can do.
- The approach is presented as a proof-of-concept for “biological computers” that interface neurons with electronic systems.
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing.
2 months agoEach so-called "biological computer" contains around 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations.
2 months ago
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