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Scientists Use Quake 2 To Study the Brains of Mice
An anonymous reader writes "In this week's issue of Nature, scientists from Princeton University trained mice to navigate around a virtual environment using a setup that resembles a combination of a giant trackball and a mini-iMax theater displaying a virtual world rendered using a modified version of the Quake 2 open source game engine. (Here's the academic paper, subscription required.) They hold the mouse's head still atop a giant trackball, which the mouse turns by running. The scientists use the rotations to move the mouse around in the virtual environment, and when he reaches certain places, he gets a reward. Because they are able to hold the head still, they can stick microscopic glass electrodes into individual neurons in the hippocampus of this mouse as it 'navigates.' They find the neural activity that resembles activity during real life navigation, and learned new things about the inputs and computations that are going on inside these neurons, which weren't known before. No word as of yet whether the scientists plan on giving the mice control of the gun. Wonder whether John Carmack ever envisioned this when he opened up the Quake code?"
Yo dawg, I heard you liked mice, so I put a mouse on your mouse.
God spoke to me.
If only we could do this with gamers who need exercise. They get a better immersive experience AND get fit at the same time.
OK, so the open-brain surgery thing is going to be controversial, but...
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
If I ever get fragged by a mouse, I hope no one ever tells me.
Fragged by a rodent! Damned thing was camping, too, the bastard.
Free Martian Whores!
Great. Now I have to worry about getting pwned by Frankie and Benjy.
I invision an army of mice farming gold in World of Warcraft, we could do it even cheaper than the Chinese!
Catching mice that get in my house is enough of a pain, but now I have to snag the bastards while they're rocket jumping? Thanks, jerks.
This is a great example of open source really helping humanity learn new and interesting things.
It's great to see that the tools provided by open software can really help speed up research.
I wonder what would happen if old versions of adobe photoshop, 3ds max, or cubase were left to open source for research purposes. What kind of discoveries would scientists make with programs like these?
Someone is likely to say it, so I will:
This is what happens when you have a free flow of information. Carmack got well paid for Quake 2 then opened the source up (eventually). If more people/institutions/corps did this it seems there would not only be more hearts and flowers (for all the open source hippies) but there would be MORE technology we could patent! The ability to make MORE money!
If I have 2 innovative products and I decide to open them up to general use, and at least 1 new idea comes from that, someone out there will create something with it and hopefully create a net gain for the system as a whole in the long run.
I know people are selfish, but for Science's sake, open up your information already! The economy is dying a slow, painful death (though the market might refute that this week), wouldn't the SOLUTION in The States be to repeal some copyright laws and let information flow freely so as to foster innovation like this? Even if it's a mouse on a ball in a hall at the mall, I have to believe only good could come from opening things up a bit more.
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I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Beats a console controller any day, even lab scientists agree
So what was the frame rate on the mouse's brain? Could it run crysis/linux?
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They initially tried this study using managers, but there was no evidence that the managers were learning anthing or that they even perceived their environment
"Are you pondering what I am pondering, Pinky?"
"I think so Brain, but how can I bunny-hop over the lava when I'm a mouse?"
www.eFax.com are spammers
No word as of yet whether the scientists plan on giving the mice control of the gun.
Just whisper this when you say it. Rodents have unnaturally good hearing.
The researchers originally wanted to use Half-Life instead of Quake 2, but they could never get the mice to do anything in the game other than murdering the scientists.
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Just thought I'd point out that
despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
If anyone is wondering, the authors did thank Carmack and id software:
Acknowledgements We thank E. Chaffin for help with mouse behaviour,
J. Carmack and id Software for providing the Quake2 code
Gives you a new definition for a head mounted display.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
I wondered why the last arena I logged in to had the quad damage replaced by a wheel of cheese, and why the rocket pickups were shaped like little smudges of peanut butter.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Mice already know how to interface with computers, having built the greatest computer in all space and time. The mice are running this quake experiment just so that they have a bit of fun "decommissioning" the hardware later.
-- open source? sounds like the real book --
I'll take a computer than runs Quake 2 at a reasonable 60 fps over a computer that takes millions of years to say "42".
Let the mice steer the beetles!
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
Care to volunteer for open brain surgery instead?
Konami presents: "Quake Quake Revolution", coming to a mouse-accessible game arcade near you!
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.