You no longer need hands to play video games. In fact, you don’t even need a body… just a few brain cells. According to a recent report from the Neuron scientific journal, researchers were able to link 800,000 brain cells to a computer allowing the group of cells to teach itself how to play Pong.
The brain cells were able to play Pong thanks to a system developed by scientists called BrainDish. This system sees a layer of living neurons grown on a special silicon chip at the bottom of a petri dish filled with nutrients. From there, the chip was linked to a computer, allowing it to detect electronic signals produced by neurons while simultaneously delivering the signals to said neurons. In order to play the game, the computer sent signals to the attached brain cells that let them know where the bouncing ball was.
At first, the cells didn’t understand the signals that it was receiving or what signals to send out. This led to scientists creating an electrical simulation program that would punish the cells when they made a mistake in the game and reward them when they played the game well. Eventually, the cells began to learn to generate patterns that would move the Pong paddle in front of the ball, leading to rallies getting longer and longer.
The brain cells never ended up being that good. However, the study’s author, Brett Kagan, said that the clump of cells was able to play the game at a higher level than mouse brain cells.
This just proves that computers are becoming more intelligent and are changing the way they learn. It also proves that you only need a few brain cells to play Pong.
(All information was provided by Cell.com, CNN, Google, and NPR)