Ramanthan and his team were able to take control of Caenorhabditis elegans – tiny, transparent worms – by manipulating neurons in the worms' "brain." Science fiction has become reality as scientists used a laser to control an animal's brain - 'steering' the creature like a car by sending instructions saying, 'Left' and 'Right'.
The laser could also be used to implant false memories in the animals' brains, fooling them into thinking that food was nearby. "By manipulating the neural system of this animal, we can make it turn left, we can make it turn right, we can make it go in a loop, we can make it think there is food nearby," said Sharad Ramanthan, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Harvard.
"We want to understand the brain of this animal, which has only a few hundred neurons, completely and essentially turn it into a video game, where we can control all of its behaviors."
I hope humans will not be next....
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