In a groundbreaking experiment, researchers have achieved a remarkable feat that blurs the lines between biology and technology. Cortical Labs has cultivated 800K brain cells in a petri dish, harnessing their neural activity to play the game Doom. This breakthrough has sent shockwaves through the scientific community and the internet, sparking intense interest and debate.
Internet reacts to brain cells in a petri dish playing Doom
The internet is in awe of the astonishing video of brain cells in a petri dish playing Doom. Cortical Labs, an Australian biotech firm, has revealed in a YouTube video that they’ve made a significant breakthrough in biological computing. Back in 2021, they taught 800,000 brain cells in a petri dish to play the classic game Pong. Their CL1 system now plays Doom, earning the title of “world’s first code deployable biological computer”.
“Pong was much simpler. There was a direct relationship: The ball went up, the paddle went up. It was a direct input-output relationship,” explained the team. “Doom was much more complex.”
The team noted that they had to translate the game’s digital world into the biological language of neurons: electricity. The firm used microelectrode arrays to stimulate and read neurons’ electrical activity.
“While there’s still a lot of work left to do on this, the exciting thing is we’ve solved the interface problem,” said the team. “We have a way to interact with these cells in real time and train them and shape their behavior to do things even like Doom.”
The video posted by Curiosity on X (formerly Twitter) has left Netizens amazed by the breakthrough achieved by the biotech firm. “We need a competition between the Petri dish and DSP on who can beat Doom first. My money is on the Petri dish,” suggested an X user. “Crazy what a ‘clump of cells’ can do,” commented another. “That’s the beginning of a Terminator-like plot,” joked a science enthusiast.
Despite this revolutionary breakthrough, Cortical Labs has clarified that the cells playing Doom won’t be beating human players anytime soon.
