Remote-Controlled Flies

Rollie Hawk writes "This could be a huge development for the ultra-lazy (and ultra-stinky, for that matter). It seems that Yale scientists have managed to engineer a remote control system for flies. According to their study (recently featured in Cell), specific neurons can be stimulated by lasers to control basic functions in fruit flies such as jumping, walking, and flying. The study, of course, was performed with wider ranging applications in mind than bringing new meaning to the saying, "Shew, fly!" The overall goal was to determine whether isolated-neuron stimulation could be used to control basic motor activities and even more complex behavior. Everyone since the days of Mary Shelly has obviously known that there are connections between electrical current and muscle movement. What makes this study unique is that it does not use traditional electrodes, which lack the single-neuron specificity of lasers. Eventually, this could lead to mappings that will give humans knowledge and possibly control over not only complex movements but less-than desirable mental functions such as aggression and overeating."

Comments

Fly Racing

[fembots]

I once saw a fly racing competition where the contestants must get their flies to weave through a course.

They used water pistols filled with fruit juice. Flies' response time was slow but accuracy was extremely high.

To bad for Sony.

[Kaenneth]

They patented doing this with Sound waves instead of Lasers.

Oh yeah. Brilliant

[ZorbaTHut]

Like we really need the sharks with frickin' laser beams to be even *more* powerful.

I, for one, welcome our new brain-controlling frickin' laser shark overlords.

(Smooth, guys. Real smooth.)

Groucho had the answer

[Anonymous Coward]

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Groucho Marx

controlling our brains

[sellin'papes]

I wonder what the benefits of artificially overcoming anger and over eating are. These mental functions generally have root causes. To use a form of mind control to subdue those thoughts will be temporary and will make our society dependent on brain lasers to cure our problems. The solution should come from confronting the causes in our personal lives. However, using the lasers to make animals dance could have benefits for all. Flea circus indeed!

Re:gg evil-mart

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

Eh? I work at k-mart and there's plenty of clocks everywhere.

Did you get the whole oxygen thing from the casino/urban legend?

how it works, briefly

[davi_bock]

The flies have been engineered to express receptors for the neurotransmitter ATP in subpopulations of neurons. (This is the same ATP that is used for energy storage; it also acts as a neurotransmitter in mammals.) They are then injected with a form of ATP that is inactive until it is exposed to ultraviolet light. When the flies are exposed to the UV, the ATP is uncaged, and the selected population of neurons expressing the transgenic receptors is activated.

Also, Carl Zimmer has written an article in the NYTimes on this; here's his blog post on the topic, as well.

...should also note...

[x2A]

whilst true that high levels of glutamite can cause neuron death due to excitotoxicity, the brain does have defenses against it (in fact when glutamite levels shoot up high, the brain releases an NMDA-antagonist similar to ketamine, to protect against excitotoxicity).

Glutamite is also coverted in the brain to GABA, another amino acid which acts as a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, which counters glutamite and other excitory neurotransmitters. So it really isn't so cut and dry.

-2A