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Latest Buzz: Fly Brains Manipulated by Remote Control
Thu Apr 7, 1:22 PM ET
Science - SPACE.com/LiveScience.com
Michael Schirber
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Like a hypnotist who gets a man to act like a chicken when he hears a code word, scientists have genetically modified fruit flies to jump or beat their wings when flashed with lasers.
"This is a new approach to neuroscience," said Gero Miesenbock from the Yale University School of Medicine. "We can not only passively observe but actively control behavior."
The remote control system was announced Thursday. It could one day replace the surgically inserted electrodes that scientists currently use to study neuron activity in the brain.
"If we had impaled the flies with electrodes, we would not have been able to see the full range of their behavior," Miesenbock told LiveScience.
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