Brain Cells in a Dish Learn to Play Pong – IOTW Report

Brain Cells in a Dish Learn to Play Pong

Friday, 14 October 2022, 19:05 BFH Uncategorized 15

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Scientists at Cortical Labs call dishes full of brain cells “cyborg brains”—and they’ve learned to play the computer game Pong with surprising speed. The mini-brains, some of them grown from human stem cells and others from cells of mouse embryos, got the hang of a simplified version of the game in around five minutes, researchers say in a study published in the journal Neuron. The brain cells were grown on top of a silicon chip linked to a computer that could detect and send electrical signals, NPR reports. Study author Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, says signals told the cells where the ball was and how far it was from the paddle—and when they managed to hit it with the paddle, they were “rewarded” with predictable stimulation, something brain cells like a lot more than the unpredictable “white noise” signals that happened when they missed.

Activity in different regions of the mini-brains moved the paddle, and they had to adopt “distinct firing patterns through self-organization,” researchers say. The mini-brains, which Cortical Labs calls “DishBrains,” are nowhere near as good at Pong as people or computer-based AIs, but they learned the game much faster than AIs. Kagan tells New Scientist that the mini-brains reached the same point after 10 to 15 rallies that it took AIs 5,000 rallies to achieve. “We often refer to them as living in the Matrix,” Kagan says. “When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle.” The researchers say DishBrains made from human cells are better at the game than those made from mouse cells. Other labs are also experimenting with dishes full of brain cells, but Kagan says this is the first time one has been shown to perform goal-directed tasks.

The mini-brains consist of 800,000 to 1 million brain cells, around as many as are in a cockroach brain. “If you could see a cockroach playing a game of Pong and it was able to hit the ball twice as often as it was missing it, you would be pretty impressed with that cockroach,” Kagan says. 

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15 Comments on Brain Cells in a Dish Learn to Play Pong

  5. I would never be so mean spirited as to suggest that a dish full of random brain cells should be denied the right to vote. What is a Democrat anyway? A random collection of disconnected brain cells. With no voter ID.

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  11. The Neuron article failed to point out the built-in 10% feedback loop that motivated the big guy’s bowl of neural jelly to learn. Reportedly, the hidden rewards included ‘extended play,’ no ‘game over’ warnings and two for the price of one games (saving on virtual quarters).

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