Neurons Can Be Changed From One Type To Another, Communication Paths Rewired (harvard.edu)

schwit1 writes: A newly published study from Harvard biologists [here's a link to the paywalled paper's summary] shows how neurons can be dramatically changed from one type into another from within the brain and how neighboring neurons recognize the reprogrammed cells as different and adapt by changing how they communicate with them. Building on earlier work in which they disproved neurobiology dogma by "reprogramming" neurons — turning one form of neuron into another — in the brains of living animals, Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have now shown that the networks of communication among reprogrammed neurons and their neighbors can also be changed, or "rewired."

Comments

The Cure

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the beginning of the cure for severe autism, the symptoms of a extensive brain damage and such, and of course a step towards useful machine-brain interfaces.