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Lab-grown brain cells play video game Pong
By Pallab Ghosh5-6 minutes 10/12/2022
DOI: <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001>
10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001,
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Image source, Cortical Labs
Image caption,
These 800,000 lab-grown brain cells can play a 1970s video game, albeit
badly
Researchers have grown brain cells in a lab that have learned to play the
1970s tennis-like video game, Pong.
They say their "mini-brain" can sense and respond to its environment.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001> Writing in the journal
Neuron, Dr Brett Kagan, of the company Cortical Labs, claims to have created
the first ''sentient'' lab-grown brain in a dish.
Other experts describe the work as ''exciting'' but say calling the brain
cells sentient is going too far.
"We could find no better term to describe the device,'' Dr Kagan says. ''It
is able to take in information from an external source, process it and then
respond to it in real time."
Image source, Van Weeden
Image caption,
The human brain is more adaptable and learns faster than current
artificial-intelligence (AI) systems. Could it be a better model for the
next generation of computers?
Mini-brains were first produced in 2013, to study microcephaly, a genetic
disorder where the brain is too small, and have since been used for research
into brain development.
But this is the first time they have been plugged into, and interacted with,
an external environment, in this case a video game.
* grew human brain cells grown from stem cells and some from mouse
embryos to a collection of 800,000
* connected this mini-brain to the video game via electrodes revealing
which side the ball was on and how far from the paddle
Image source, Cortical Labs
Image caption,
Pong is an early computer game where the object is to move the bar on the
left to prevent the small square slipping past - very simple, but very
exciting in 1972
In response, the cells produced electrical activity of their own.
They expended less energy as the game continued.
But when the ball passed a paddle and the game restarted with the ball at a
random point, they expended more recalibrating to a new unpredictable
situation.
The mini-brain learned to play in five minutes.
It often missed the ball - but its success rate was well above random
chance.
Although, with no consciousness, it does not know it is playing Pong in the
way a human player would, the researchers stress.
Beer Pong?
Dr Kagan hopes the technology might eventually be used to test treatments
for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
"When people look at tissues in a dish, at the moment they are seeing if
there is activity or no activity. But the purpose of brain cells is to
process information in real time," he says. "Tapping into their true
function unlocks so many more research areas that can be explored in a
comprehensive way."
Next, Dr Kagan plans to test the impact alcohol has on the mini-brain's
ability to play Pong.
If it reacts in a similar way to a human brain, this would underscore just
how effective the system might be as an experimental stand-in.
Image source, SPL
Image caption,
The researchers say their mini brains are more adaptable than current AI
systems and so might provide the basis for more adaptable robots
Dr Kagan's description of his system as sentient, however, differs from many
dictionary definitions, which state it means having the capacity to have
feelings and sensations.
Cardiff Psychology School honorary research associate Dr Dean Burnett
prefers the term ''thinking system''.
''There is information being passed around and clearly used, causing
changes, so the stimulus they are receiving is being 'thought about' in a
basic way,'' he says.
The mini-brains are likely to become more complex as the research progresses
- but Dr Kagan's team are working with bioethicists to ensure they do not
accidentally create a conscious brain, with all the ethical questions that
would raise.
"We have to see this new technology very much like the nascent computer
industry, when the first transistors were janky prototypes, not very
reliable - but after years of dedicated research, they led to huge
technological marvels across the world," he says.
Artificial-intelligence (AI) researchers have already produced devices that
can beat grandmasters at chess.
But Prof Karl Friston, of University College London, who is working with Dr
Kagan, says: "The mini-brain learned without it being taught and so is more
adaptable and flexible."
Hear more from the team behind this breakthrough on
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cxxv> Inside Science on BBC Sounds.
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