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Remote Control Worms With Laser Light, Using FOSS

Posted by timothy on from the haven't-you-always-wanted-to-see-those-words? dept.

Kramer747 writes "to share a new tool I've developed for neuroscience that uses optogenetics to remotely control the neurons of a worm as it swims or crawls. Its called CoLBeRT, Controlling Locomotion and Behavior in Real Time. With the instrument I can induce the worm to stop, accelerate, lay eggs or experience the illusion of touch. All source code to run the instrument is GPLd and available. Science News and Scientific American both have stories. The project homepage is at colbert.physics.harvard.edu." I hope that name also constitutes a successful bid to get on the actual Colbert show!

78 comments

  1. Good PR department by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 5, Funny

    The CoLBeRT project is dedicated to its namesake, Stephen Colbert, who manipulates the neurocircuits of millions of Americans daily using only the light from their monitors.

    --
    I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    1. Re:Good PR department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You REALLY need to get out more.

    2. Re:Good PR department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought people only watched Colbert for his ridiculous parodies that must be to mock the liberals for being stupid enough to believe they have a point. Afterall, only evil people and retards join the democrates - as you have to be evil to try to enslave people through any means, let alone any of the means they employ - and you have to be a retard to fall for it...little empathy for either side and the bleeding heart crap to suggest there is an actual beating one somewhere within them is getting a bit old. I hope this worm is all your life ever amounts to and that you get your 5 minutes of fame just to feel overwhelming pain for the rest of your life scumbag.

    3. Re:Good PR department by orange47 · · Score: 0

      yeah but maybe he shouldn't hang around parking lots too much, just in case..

    4. Re:Good PR department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TLDR herp derp

    5. Re:Good PR department by HelioWalton · · Score: 1

      And what exactly is wrong with Salem's Lot?

    6. Re:Good PR department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's about damn time we got some new troll copypasta. I was getting tired of Your Official Guide to the Jigaboo Presidency.

    7. Re:Good PR department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The irony of separate points in this message isn't lost on me.

      You talk about 'stupid' people and misspell common words. You question the 'heart' of democrats and then wish infinite pain on people. I can't tell whether you're trying to be a troll, or really are that pathetic.

    8. Re:Good PR department by nicoleadams45 · · Score: 1

      Does this new technology on how to control the neuron of a bacteria can is also applicable to the new trending news for today on ATM keypads and public toilets both have bacteria, says British study.It’s well known that public facilities are breeding environments for germs. Toilets are as full of bacteria as expected, but ATM keypads are practically as bad. The research was, not astonishingly, financed by antibacterial makers. This doesn't mean that others are worried about it, however. Just think of the personal loan the bank will have to take out if someone sued them for getting sick at the ATM.

    9. Re:Good PR department by casca69 · · Score: 1

      Oddly, when I read the title, I thought "who needs a laser on a worm, and wouldn't that be dangerous to farmers?"
      Then I read the arti, and realized it would only be dangerous to techs.

  2. Explains the Fremen control of sandworms by Insanity+Defense · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Herbert was a Prophet?

    1. Re:Explains the Fremen control of sandworms by icebike · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But all Herbert dreamed up was hooks. Not half as cool as worms with freaking lasers on their heads.

       

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    2. Re:Explains the Fremen control of sandworms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But all Herbert dreamed up was hooks

      ...And control over worms by virtue of being covered with sandtrout. And later, control over worms by virtue of having Atreides genes, though it took a giant talking wormgod to bring that one about.

      Either one is cooler than lasers, though. :p

    3. Re:Explains the Fremen control of sandworms by siddesu · · Score: 1

      Not half as cool, but the fremen could control them worms in a sandstorm and be more or less invisible.

      Which was kind of important at the end of the only good book in the series ;)

    4. Re:Explains the Fremen control of sandworms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems he had a taste for the spice.

  3. Fricken' sharks are filing a lawsuit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    For patent infringement.

  4. If you can't get on the Colbert Report with this by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2

    Maybe you can try for Iron Chef Japan.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  5. Minions! by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Funny

    I see very little practical use for controlling worms. Now, get me a vertebrate, a good-sized one... can you get it light enough to mount on a bird? That would be useful. Birds have a lot of lift in them.

    I can see why C. Elegans was used. I know of that worm. It's been mapped: Every neuron teased apart, and it's connections to the others documented.

    1. Re:Minions! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see very little practical use for controlling worms.

      You missed the attribution.

      "I see very little practical use for controlling worms" - Leto Harkonnen

    2. Re:Minions! by AchilleTalon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Obviously, you completely missed the point about the military potentiel of a platoon of tapeworms remotely controlled.

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
    3. Re:Minions! by formfeed · · Score: 2

      Tonight on CW:

      Squirm
      1976, Horror
      During a storm, the power lines are broken and touch the ground, calling up millions of earthworms and turning them into vicious man-eaters that are unleashed upon a small, unsuspecting American fishing village in Georgia.

      How timely.

    4. Re:Minions! by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      I can control advanced primates with optical stimulation. I can make them forgo social interaction, practice sleep deprivation and prevent them from reproducing as their brains are redirected to sexually self stimulate instead.. I call the device a video monitor with a porn feed.

    5. Re:Minions! by PPH · · Score: 1

      I can see lots of uses. But we already have campaign contributions. So this seems redundant.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    6. Re:Minions! by harley78 · · Score: 1

      "earthworms" are Annelids and elegans are Nematodes; just sayin.

    7. Re:Minions! by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 2

      If you could mount it on a bird, the bird could tell worms to crawl into their bellies.

      --
      God spoke to me.
    8. Re:Minions! by oranGoo · · Score: 1

      I see very little practical use for controlling worms.

      Horatio, here are some ideas for future.

    9. Re:Minions! by ProzacPatient · · Score: 1

      Obviously you haven't played Penumbra Overture.
      Once we have figured out how to make worms the size of semi-trucks then the shit will hit the fan and no bunker will be safe!

    10. Re:Minions! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is connections? Which neuron causes humans to add useless apostrophes to a simple possessive pronoun?

  6. Explains the Freeman control of antlions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FTFY

  7. Don't you dare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    HEY, screw you Kramer747, I know what you are trying to do, it's not gonna work, I will let everyone know.

    1. Re:Don't you dare! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So...?

  8. Old hat by anza · · Score: 4, Funny

    I played this game on my Nokia YEARS ago.

    1. Re:Old hat by SharpFang · · Score: 2

      You mean you have to use your hands?
      That's like a baby's toy!

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    2. Re:Old hat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Admittedly - that was really funny!

  9. "Illusion of touch" by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

    With the instrument I can induce the worm to stop, accelerate, lay eggs or experience the illusion of touch

    That's what you think it does. What it actually does is sear the alien intelligence's brain with intense, burning pain.

    At least we now know who to turn over when the screwworm motherships arrive.

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  10. Uh oh. by soonerthanuthink · · Score: 1

    Whatever you do, don't tell these guys.

  11. Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Ichoran · · Score: 1

    Actually, Stirman, not Stewart. Anyway, there is a second independently developed system that does approximately the same thing, just without Harvard's PR department behind it.

    It would be collegial to mention that this other project exists, no? (Especially since their software is also available, and since you know it exists.)

  12. Unethical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't it unethical?

    1. Re:Unethical? by ZankerH · · Score: 2

      Ethics only applies to animals whose nervous systems are complex enough to be considered as "brains".

    2. Re:Unethical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ethics only applies to animals whose nervous systems are complex enough to be considered as "brains".

      That explains why some people seem to feel that ethics don't apply to them.

    3. Re:Unethical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not at all. That's the beauty of open source - if the worms don't like it, they are free to fork it and start a competing project!

    4. Re:Unethical? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if your ethical system doesn't value life in and of itself.

    5. Re:Unethical? by FiloEleven · · Score: 1

      So you never brush your teeth or wash yourself, since that kills bacteria?
      You never clean your bathroom or take antibiotics?
      You never swat at mosquitos or kill ants staging a home invasion?
      You never eat either? Or are you a scavenger? (Except even scavenging results in the small deaths of microscopic creatures.)

      Valuing all life is an untenable position that simply cannot be put into practice. If you value life, an admirable tenet, you still have to decide which kinds of life to value. Just saying "I value all life in and of itself" shows that you haven't really considered the proposition.

      --
      Your brain is not a computer.
  13. huh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    controlling the actions and behaviors of simple organisms is called Colbert, why am i not surprised?

  14. Old and unoriginal by Master+Moose · · Score: 0

    I tried something similar as a kid - Only instead of a Laser my concentrated light source came from a magnifying glass. It controled the neurons of the worms as much as to cease locomotion - albeit permanently. I gave up my research when I got my 1st BB gun.

    --
    . . .gone when the morning comes
  15. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Kramer747 · · Score: 1

    Good point! I'm adding a link to them now. FYI, harvard PR department had nothing to do with this. Just me.

  16. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Kramer747 · · Score: 2

    Added to the links page:
    http://colbert.physics.harvard.edu/links.php

    I'm still basically writing the website, so there is more stuff coming.

  17. Did a double take when I read the headline... by mark-t · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think I need new glasses. I first read the headline as "Remote Control Women With Laser Light, using FOSS"

    Read what you will into what that says about my subconscious. I'm making an appointment with my eye doctor this week.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:Did a double take when I read the headline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Do not look at Remote Control Women With Laser Light, using FOSS with remaining eye.

    2. Re:Did a double take when I read the headline... by dohzer · · Score: 1

      That's exactly how I read it too.
      Maybe it's the fact that I went on the first date I've been on in a few years yesterday.

    3. Re:Did a double take when I read the headline... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finally, something I can contribute to; oh wait ...

    4. Re:Did a double take when I read the headline... by badkarmadayaccount · · Score: 1

      How did it go?

      --
      I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
  18. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Ichoran · · Score: 2

    Very sporting of you!

    Maybe this will bring in a new era of competitive worm-games: you control your team (or single worm) with your system, and Stirman controls the other side with his. (You just need to put them in a microfluidic device and set up your system on one side and theirs on the other....)

  19. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Kramer747 · · Score: 1

    Jeff is actually an expert at microfluidics! He could pull it off. Check out his other papers.

  20. Worm code is bugged! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's unreachable code in main() in test.cpp! Seriously. Follow the article's link and check it out.

  21. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by Ichoran · · Score: 1

    If he designs the arena, it might help him make up for your 50% faster response time.

  22. World Domination by WDancer · · Score: 1

    Ha ha!!! Now my plans for world domination will be complete! Of course, I will still have to figure out a way to keep them from frying on the sidewalks...

  23. Why use lasers? by PPH · · Score: 1, Funny

    Mod points seem to work pretty well here.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Why use lasers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lasers will give a strong coherent light, so a very narrow spectral bandwidth or just one colour. Muticolours are hard to focus due to dispersion in the optics, think prisms and rainbows. With lasers you can be sure you are targeting the cells which are sensitive to this, and not background light.

  24. Why it's useful by Ichoran · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the big questions in science is how neurons control behavior. It's a tough thing to answer when you can't control the neurons. (E.g. "tell me what this software program works without using it or altering the source code.")

    So this is a big help in figuring out how neurons control worm behavior. Since we don't know much about how neurons control the behavior of anything, this is a big step forward!

    1. Re:Why it's useful by pinkushun · · Score: 1

      "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" -- A. Einstein

  25. Big Deal. What I want to know is, by mswhippingboy · · Score: 1

    With the instrument I can induce the worm to stop, accelerate, lay eggs or experience the illusion of touch.

    Can you make'em dance? http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=dancing+worms

    --
    Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    1. Re:Big Deal. What I want to know is, by Kramer747 · · Score: 1

      Sure. It would take awhile to get the choreography down. I believe the Stirman group made videos of a paralyzed worm that wiggles its head and tail, and we have also done the same, although I don't have any videos of that up.

      We actually discussed this in lab and I think "All the single ladies" would have been a good song choice since the worms are also single (albeit hermaphrodites).

      Ultimately we decided not to pursue this, even though it would have been a great visual. Unfortunately, scientists today operate in a political environment that is increasingly hostile to research. See for example this Senator who wants the public to rifle through NSF grants and propose research projects to cut: http://majorityleader.gov/YouCut/Review.htm (For the record, this is a manifestly BAD idea.) At an institution where research is largely publicly funded I have to walk a fine line between making my research accessible to a broad audience and preventing the gimmicks from overshadow the real science.

        The CoLBeRT system is extremely useful for our understanding of the nervous system. It allows us to systematically probe the connections of the worm's nervous system to to understand how the signals these neurons create correlate with the worms' behavior. The research that this tool enables will yield insights that directly help us understand our own much more complicated brain. With certain political parties up in arms about cutting science research, I don't want to give anyone an easy bullseye by making a dancing worm. Very good idea, nonetheless.

    2. Re:Big Deal. What I want to know is, by Zurk · · Score: 1

      do you have a map of the neuron connections mapping which neuron does what and how ?
      I think it would be helpful to have a graphical map which shows the pathways for each function and how the light activates them.
      also is there any good mapping of what an individual worm neuron does ? how does it use chemical and electrical functions to execute commands.

  26. laser solution is scalable... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..all the way to humans. Side effect: slightly burned skin.

  27. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by SharpFang · · Score: 1

    you control your team (or single worm) with your system, and Stirman controls the other side with his.

    no, no, no. You control a team of 4 worms. And arm them with all kinds of miniature weapons trying to blast opponent's worms!

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  28. *shrug* by vegiVamp · · Score: 1

    It has long been established that you can control cats' movements using nothing but a laser pointer.

    --
    What a depressingly stupid machine.
    1. Re:*shrug* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, it's worth noting that the Japanese have long been at the cutting edge of controlling cats with tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VRklgMjr3E

  29. Yay by mawe · · Score: 1

    That could take the Worms games series to a whole new level. Fuck Kinect!

    --
    I'm afraid Mary is dead.
  30. As seen on XKCD by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

    http://xkcd.com/729/

  31. Poor worm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The poor worm........it is just wrong.

  32. Worms now cool! by Dabido · · Score: 1

    Great! Spent my life making sure I never had worms, and now the freakin' things are kewler than Elvis and Philip J Fry!!!

    --
    Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
  33. FOSS brain controll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, no, It's the open source brain control system

  34. Re:Colbert? There's Stewart, too. by nibbles2004 · · Score: 0

    how would Martha improve the situation, oh you talking about the other one, you should of prefixed it Talentless, Unfunny Stewart that would clear up any confusion.

  35. Yeah but... by Genda · · Score: 1

    Can get them to swim with lasers attached to their friggin' heads???

  36. I just want to know by cstacy · · Score: 1

    Remote Control Worms With Laser Light

    I just want to know how they got the frikkin "lasers" on the worms' heads!

    (Also, what exactly are "remote control worms"?)

  37. I welcome the opportunity... by AJNeufeld · · Score: 1

    ... to become a benevolent worm overlord.