An international team of researchers spread out over three labs in Switzerland, Italy, and the UK have successfully joined artificial neurons and an organic neuron to form the first operational biological-artificial hybrid neural network.

Theyve made a cyborg.

The team set out to recreate a classic experiment showing how neurons can learn by transferring information through synapses.

In a classic neural network, various neurons light up in response to stimulus. Over time the neurons will require more or less stimulation to fire, thus demonstrating how neural networks adapt and learn.

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Weve studied this concept in organic neural networks such as those found in living brains, but this is the first time its been done with both living and artificial neurons.

Per the teams research paper:

We demonstrate a three-neuron brain-silicon network where memristive synapses undergo long-term potentiation or depression driven by neuronal firing rates.

The experiment involved three different neurons across three different geographical locations, connected via the Internet using standard TCP/IP.

The first, a silicon-based artificial neuron, resided in Switzerland where researchers used it to send information to another artificial neuron in the UK.

Connecting the two human-made neurons was an organic neuron derived from a lab rats brain in Italy which served as a bridge for information.

The scientists demonstrated the hybrid neural networks ability to learn by modifying the way the data was sent, thus causing the artificial neuron at the end of the transmission to require more or less stimulation to light up.

Theoretically, this experiment could be expanded exponentially. With enough artificial bridges mimicking natural synapses we may one day be able to emulate entire brain regions.

The implications could go as far as total-conversion cyborgs that retain only the bare minimum of organic brain material essentially, this could mean immortality.

But, more likely in this century, it means scientists may one day be able to repair damaged or abnormal brain regions. This could mean a cure for paralysis, dementia, and other brain disorders, even those currently considered irreparable.

Theres still plenty of work to be done. It takes hundreds of thousands of connections for even simple brain circuits to operate, the three-neuron approach is little more than proof of the concept.

But when full-on cyborgs walk the Earth, theyll trace their origins back to this research.

You can read the full paper here.

H/t: Singularity Hub

Published March 11, 2020 22:47 UTC

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Scientists successfully created a cybernetic neural network - The Next Web