Brain hack lets rats feel geomagnetic signals and it may help the blind 'see'

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Implant allowed blind rodents to navigate maze as well as sighted rats
It sent electric pulses into brain's visual cortex based on head direction
Humans could one day expand their senses through artificial sensors
We could one day detect geomagnetic input, UV and ultrasound waves

By Ellie Zolfagharifard For Dailymail.com

Published: 12:58 EST, 2 April 2015 | Updated: 15:20 EST, 2 April 2015

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Scientists have implanted tiny digital compasses into the brains of blind rats to give them 'psychic GPS' abilities.

After only a few days of practice, the implants allowed blind rodents to navigate a maze just as well as sighted rats.

The experiment suggests a similar kind of implant may help blind people walk freely through the world – and could someday even give humans superpowers.

Scientists have implanted tiny digital compasses into the brains of blind rats to give them 'psychic GPS' abilities. The experiment suggests a similar kind of implant may help blind people walk freely through the world – and could someday even give humans superpowers

HOW DID THE IMPLANT WORK?

The device was made up of a geomagnetic compass – similar to the microchip found in smartphones.

Alongside this were two electrodes fitted into the animals' visual cortices. These are areas of the brain that process visual data.

Whenever a rat positioned its head within 20 degrees either side of north, the electrodes sent pulses of electricity into its right visual cortex.

When the rat aligned its head in a southerly direction, the left visual cortex was stimulated. allowing blind rats to build up a mental map of their surroundings.

The scientists behind the study say humans could one day expand their senses through artificial sensors that for instance, detect geomagnetic input, ultraviolet radiation and ultrasound waves.

'The most remarkable point of this paper is to show the potential, or the latent ability, of the brain,' says Yuji Ikegaya of the University of Tokyo.

'That is, we demonstrated that the mammalian brain is flexible even in adulthood—enough to adaptively incorporate a novel, never-experienced, non-inherent modality into the pre-existing information sources.'

The researchers did not want to restore vision, but the blind rats' allocentric sense. That sense is what allows animals and people to recognize the position of their body within the environment.

What would happen, the researchers asked, if the animals could 'see' a geomagnetic signal? Could that signal fill in for the animals' lost sight?

The head-mountable geomagnetic sensor device the researchers devised allowed them to connect a digital compass - similar to the one you'd find in a smart phone - to two tungsten microelectrodes for stimulating the visual cortex of the brain.

The lightweight device also allowed the, to turn the brain stimulation up or down and included a rechargeable battery.

Pictured is the scientists' impression of a rat wearing the geomagnetic device. The device was made up of a geomagnetic compass – similar to the microchip found in smartphones. Alongside this were two electrodes fitted into the animals' visual cortices. These are areas of the brain that process visual data

Once attached, the sensor automatically detected the animal's head direction and generated electrical stimulation pulses indicating which direction they were facing—north or south, for instance.

The 'blind' rats were then trained to seek food pellets in a T-shaped or a more complicated maze.

Within tens of trials, the researchers report, the animals learned to use the geomagnetic information to solve the mazes.

In fact, their performance levels and navigation strategies were similar to those of normally sighted rats. The animals' allocentric sense was restored.

'We were surprised that rats can comprehend a new sense that had never been experienced or 'explained by anybody' and can learn to use it in behavioural tasks within only two to three days,' Ikegaya says.

The findings suggest one very simple application: to attach geomagnetic sensors to the canes used by some blind people to get around.

Our brains, it appears, are capable of much more than our limited senses allow.

'Perhaps you do not yet make full use of your brain,' Ikegaya says. 'The limitation does not come from your lack of effort, but it does come from the poor sensory organs of your body.

'The real sensory world must be much more 'colourful' than what you are currently experiencing.'