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Rescue Rat: Could wired rodents save the day?

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

A Brooklyn-based research team has wired a rat’s brain so that someone at a laptop computer can steer the animal through mazes and over rubble.

RAT PACK. Researchers used virtual cues and rewards emanating from a wired backpack to guide a rat along a path. S. Weiss/Nature

The research gives a glimpse of the possibilities for training animals by sending cues and rewards directly to their brains, says Sanjiv Talwar of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.