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Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

The mammalian retina is a masterful example of genetic engineering. Each moment our eyes are open, we take in mountains and mountains of data that has to be pored over, interpreted and processed by a specific cortical region within our brains. Despite their seemingly endless capabilities, even our retinas have their limits. That is, until today, with the release of a new study by researchers led by Duke University neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis. In their study, the team was able to give laboratory rats the ability to touch infrared light. Infrared light is typically invisible to mammalian retinas.

A professor of neurobiology, biomedical engineering, and psychology and neuroscience, Nicolelis is also the co-director of the Center for Neuroengineering. Assisting him with his study were Eric Thomson and Rafael Carra. Thomson is a post-doctoral research associate. Carra, visiting from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, is studying medicine in his home country. Grant support for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

The rats were able to detect the infrared light after the team fitted them with an infrared detector that was wired to microscopic electrodes implanted in the part of the mammalian brain that processes tactile information. It was the connection to this region of the brain responsible for the sense of touch that, at first, made the initial interaction with the infrared beam feel as though it was touching the rat subjects.

Another first celebrated by this study demonstrated how, for the first time, a sensory input could be implanted into a cortical region specialized for reception of information involving another of our senses, altogether without actually hijacking the region for the newly chosen function. According to Nicolelis, the suggestion made by this discovery is that if an individuals visual cortex were damaged, negating their ability to see, it might now be possible to aid in their regaining the sense of sight by implanting a neuroprosthesis in another cortical region.

In Search of Infrared Vision

The initial experiments with the laboratory rats were conducted to determine whether or not they could even detect infrared light. Team leader Nicolelis has claimed, however, he sees no reason why, in the future, animals couldnt be given full-fledged infrared vision. In fact, with the use of a neuroprosthesis, there is no reason why animals and humans couldnt be given the ability to see in any region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Nicolelis even believes we might one day be able to see magnetic fields.

We could create devices sensitive to any physical energy. It could be magnetic fields, radio waves or ultrasound. We chose infrared initially because it didnt interfere with our electrophysiological recordings, he said.

Read this article:
Brain-Machine Interface Allows Rat To 'Touch' Infrared Light

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