Mixing brain cells and nanodots

Roland Piquepaille writes "It's not the first time that animal brain cells have been used in conjunction with nanoparticles. But now, a team of Israeli researchers have grown self-organizing networks of rat brain cells by binding them to carbon nanotubes. In a short article, New Scientist reports that these neural networks are remarkably stable, surviving for almost three months in the lab. These hybrid networks could be used in future biological sensors. For example, they could identify a poison by measuring its effect on such a network of brain cells."

Comments

Wait, what's this about nanodots?

[Zarel]

I see the summary and article mention nanotubes but no nanodots, and I've never heard of nanodots before. Wikipedia doesn't have an article about them. What are they?

Re:Wait, what's this about nanodots?

[Tx]

They're a little like a slashdot, only smaller.

Re:Wait, what's this about nanodots?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nanodot? It's a catchall term for one of those nano-sized spherical looking things.

A buckyball is a kind of nanodot. Some micelles could be considered nanodots.

HTH...

Heh

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"For example, they could identify a poison by measuring its effect on such a network of brain cells"

proc DetectPoison ()
{
      global $NeuralActivity;
      if($NeuralActivity == 0) return true;
      return false;
}

Re:Heh

[Mayhem178]

Wow...that is just awful and not right! You are a bad, bad person! How do you sleep at night?

proc DetectPoison()
{
global $NeuralActivity;
return $NeuralActivity == 0;
}

There, that's better. :D

The next logical step

[Valacosa]

The next logical step: implant the carbon nanotubes into a rat embryo and let it develop into an adult rat. Think of the applications! We could know what rats are thinking at all times!

"Mmmm...cheese."

Then it's just a quick leap to remote controlled rats. That would be fun.

They've already got remote controlled rats...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/05/05 01_020501_roborats.html

Couple this with:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17434-20 03Oct12?language=printer

and you get monkeys that can control rats with their mind!

I for one welcome our new monkey overlords and their army of mind controlled rats...

Microdots

[Joebert]

In a short article, New Scientist reports that these neural networks are remarkably stable, surviving for almost three months in the lab.

Awesome ! The last batch of Microdots I got only lasted about 7 hours.

They're Pinky and The Brain

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, Pinky and The Brain
One is a genius
The other's insane.
They're laboratory mice
Their genes have been spliced
They're dinky
They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain
Brain.

Before each night is done
Their plan will be unfurled
By the dawning of the sun
They'll take over the world.

Re:Ethics

[TheDreadSlashdotterD]

Ethics? Who needs ethics?

I know the above link is OT and disturbing (even by my standards), but if the parts of an animal or a human can benefit the rest of the world, then why not use them? It's like nature (or God, if you prefer) handing us a cherished gift and throwing it in the dumpster because we think it disgraces us morally/ethically. What a load of crap. It's just a blob of molecules arranged in a certain way. Get over it.

Hardware Vs Biological Routes

[sc0p3]

This is interesting development in light of the advances of the hardware methods for neural networks. There seems to be two routes to mimic AI / biology; Hardware simulation of neurons, and biological embedding of neurons on chips.

The article says its to "identify a compound" which is achieved by embedding the olfactory/taste/heat etc neurons on chips and monitoring the signals generated. These neurons have special proteins in their membranes to identify the compounds, but this could very easily be extended to AI networks, and opens up alot more possibility.

Robotic control algorithms brached in the 50's-60's into serial control and neurological control. The processing limitations in earlier days inhibited the latter development path, but there have been a number of interesting developments like this one recently showing progression of the neural paths - eg Sony Robodog a few days earlier.

Re:Trippin

[k4_pacific]

2002 called, they want their The 90s called. they want their joke back joke back.

Mod parent down for blatant plagiarism!

[FleaPlus]

When reading the parent comment, I thought it was a little bit odd that it was talking about stem cells when the article has nothing to do with stem cells. After a quick google search, it turns out that the parent comment is actually a verbatim copy of a comment by someone else on a story last year:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=171904 &cid=14316980

In fact, just about all the prior comments by "janet-on" seem to be verbatim copies of comments made by other people. The trick seems to work rather well, considering that the previous three comments all got modded to a score of 5, and the current comment is now at score 4.

Personally, I'm guessing that "janet-on" is a bot someone made to try to accumulate karma, to allow them to moderate comments.