Level 8: Brain Pong - by Ashton Trotman-Grant

Welcome to The Gameful Scientist! This newsletter explores the intersection of bio and gaming. Enjoy! Join the community, and unlock scientific breakthroughs, one game at a time. Subscribed In an exciting study, scientists taught living brain cells to play the classic arcade game Pong. Published in Neuron, the authors reveals the potential of "synthetic biological intelligence" and could change our understanding of learning, brain function, and even game design. Researchers at Cortical Labs, a startup in Australia, used advanced chips with tiny electrodes to grow brain cells called cortical neurons from embryonic mice and human stem cells. They connected these chips to a computer running Pong, creating a "DishBrain" system that enabled the neurons to learn and improve their game performance in real-time. In this article, we’ll dive into the study and show how games can be used as a testbed for biological intelligence. Welcome to Level 8. Check out this video for context: The DishBrain

Welcome to The Gameful Scientist! This newsletter explores the intersection of bio and gaming. Enjoy! Join the community, and unlock scientific breakthroughs, one game at a time. Subscribed In an exciting study, scientists taught living brain cells to play the classic arcade game Pong. Published in Neuron, the authors reveals the potential of "synthetic biological intelligence" and could change our understanding of learning, brain function, and even game design. Researchers at Cortical Labs, a startup in Australia, used advanced chips with tiny electrodes to grow brain cells called cortical ne