Monkey Brains Wired Together: A Real Life Mind-Meld

Scientists have managed to do a real-life mind meld with monkey brains. Researchers have connected the brains of three monkeys together and have found that they can cooperate together to accomplish certain tasks.

So-called brain-to-brain interfaces could eventually lead to "organic computers" made of multiple animal brains wired together.

In order to actually build a monkey network, the researchers first implanted electrodes in rhesus macaque brains, positioned to pick up signals from a few hundred neurons. Then, the scientists connected two or three of the macaques to a computer with a display showing a CG monkey arm. The monkeys were then tasked with controlling the arm. If the monkeys were successful, they received a small reward of juice.

So what happened? Over time, the monkeys became better and better at the task and actually were able to synchronize their brain activity, leading to improved performance.

So what practical applications does this have? In theory, paralyzed patients could be linked with healthy volunteers to help them learn to move again, or help patients learn how to control robotic limbs or exoskeletons. That said, this sort of practical application is a long way off as of yet.

"We hope to be able to report data on such research in a few months," said Miguel Nicolelis, one of the researchers, in an interview with Discovery News. "One day this could also help stroke patients, epilepsy patients and patients with other neurological disorders. Also, this could be done non-invasively, instead of having to use implants like we did in our experiments with monkeys and rats."

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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