The Conquest of the Neuron

June 11, 2007

With potential implications that could dwarf those of every other technology, the slow courtship of brain and machine continues . . . . Here is the latest: scientists in Israel have used live neurons to store information. According to the New Scientist, this is a first . . . .

Now Itay Baruchi and Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel Aviv University in Israel
have taught new firing patterns to a network of neurons by targeting
specific points of the network with a chemical called picrotoxin. The
new patterns lasted for up to two days without harming the pre-
existing firing patterns (Physical Review Letters E, DOI: 10.1103/
PhysRevE.75.050901). “You can think of it like a Christmas tree with
lights that flicker,” says Ben-Jacob. “We imprinted another pattern of
lights on top of the original.”

Many believe that complex patterns of neuronal firing are templates
for memory, which the brain uses when storing information. Imprinting
such “memories” on artificial neural networks provides a potential way
to develop cyborg chips, says Ben-Jacob. These would be useful for
monitoring biological systems like the brain and blood since, being
human, they would respond to the same chemicals.