Mind-merge Computers Become Reality
From: BioTechniques - 10/28/2015

In experiments worthy of a classic horror film plot, researchers have
connected animal brains to create super brains capable of manipulating
robotic arms, predicting the weather, or controlling wheelchairs. What will
these scientists do with human brains?

Four brains are better than one - and not just if you're a zombie looking for
your next meal this Halloween. Researchers have created brain-machine
interfaces that allow input from multiple rat or monkey brains at once,
allowing them to solve computational programs or manipulate robotic movements
better than when a single animal controls the machine. The super-brains, or
“Brainets” (for brain networks) as the scientists have dubbed them, act like
living computers. They could one day be designed with human brains in mind to
enable collaborative problem solving, new forms of communication, or better
control of prosthetic limbs.

Already, Duke University neurobiologist Mikhail Lebedev's team reported at
the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting this month that monkeys can
cooperatively control a wheelchair. A similar setup may one day be used by
humans.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.biotechniques.com/news/biotechniquesNews/biotechniques-361279.html

Links:
Neuroscientists demonstrate operation of the first network of brains
  (Brainet) in both promates and rodents (with video 1:47)
http://www.nicolelislab.net/?p=683

Building an organic computing device with multiple interconnected brains
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep11869

Computing Arm Movements with a Monkey Brainet
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep10767