Nerve Cells Successfully Grown on Silicon

crabpeople writes "Researchers at the University of Calgary have found that nerve cells grown on a microchip can learn and memorize information which can be communicated to the brain. 'We discovered that when we used the chip to stimulate the neurons, their synaptic strength was enhanced,' said Naweed Syed, a neurobiologist at the University of Calgary's faculty of medicine."

Comments

...finally... it all makes sense

[derphilipp]

Plant human cells in an elevator-controlling unit and you'll have the dumbest movie ever....

Its the start!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't you learned anything on the matrix?
You'll be the reason of extinction!!!

Re:Its the start!!!

[wheresdrew]

Who cares? Just so long as I can use this to learn kung-fu (or how to fly a helicopter) in less than 10 seconds.

Huge market?

[Homology]

nerve cells grown on a microchip can learn and memorize information which can be communicated to the brain.

The researches have read some Slashdot posts, and believe that there must be a huge market for this chip. There is clearly a need for it ;-)

Magical Transistor

[spaceghst]

"A transistor located on the chip then recorded that conversation between cells."

I'd like to see this transistor...

fud

I could use a ..

[Kalroth]

.. memory upgrade implant, specially in the mornings.
It would also be cool with an encyclopedia or even a few o'reilly books implanted.

Too bad it seems to be a one-way communication only, otherwise a spellchecker implant would be cool too :-)

Catching a virus

[ClaudiusMinimus]

would have a whole new meaning...

Re:Kinda cool

[bangular]

More likely it would be used to erase someone's childhood to store hundreds of GB of sex memories.

very cool...

[zeruch]

...but I still think Natural Stupidity will outpace Artificial (or artificially enhanced) Intelligence.

Skynet

[Karem Lore]

da da dum de dum.
da da dum de dum.
da da dum de dum.

Termihuman III, coming to a cinema near you.

In the year 2250, a small pocket resistance of humans find the means to develop an organic gooker. Using the power of jelly to disable our circuit boards, they start a highly accurate military campaign to overrun the machines...

Tron and Tran, are a simple couple thrown together in this all-action, pistol pumping, explosion-full chase between man and machine. Will their love be enough to conquer the invading humans, or will the humans finally overcome the race they created.

Rated 18 with scenes of sex with hoover connectors and frequent uses of acronyms.

A film by Widget Jones.

In other news

[NorwBlue]

Ely Lilly release the new Prozac add-on for nervous cpu's

This could really upset international politics

[hazman]

Imagine a U.S. President that is simply a marionette made of organic plasma being controlled and manipulated by puppeteers and handlers behind the curtain - stringlessly AND wirelessly.

Another great steps

[Xenobane]

towards a virtual girlfriend.

Re:Just like sci-fi.

[krumms]

then the guy starts to "feel" and "manipulate" things.

I didn't know Asimov wrote THOSE kinds of books :P

Sirius Cybernetics Corporation

[Rassendyll]

So that's how the "real people personalities" work. Guess the crowd at University of Calgary will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!

My computer already has a mind of it's own...

[Serious Simon]

The last thing I would want is to make it nervous.

I wonder

[Gendhil]

Who'll be the first to upload a linux distro into the brain of an actual pinguin.

but where's the RFID?

[ThePretender]

'We discovered that when we used the chip to stimulate the neurons, their synaptic strength was enhanced,'

...and when we added the RFID, the test subjects had great futures working for Wal-Mart as they could communicate directly with the pallets of merchandise. In 2.0, the store employees will automagically know when the Gillette razors need to be restocked. :-)

Re:Kinda cool

[rofa]

I haven't lost my mind. I have a backup on tape somewhere.