The Scientists Who Stare at Flies

TVs, drones, toy cars…. and fruit flies?

Researchers at Rice University successfully hacked the brains of fruit flies to make them remote-controlled, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Materials.

😳 Um, what?!... Yeah, really. Here’s how it works:

• The team initially started by genetically engineering the flies to possess certain heat-triggered brain circuits.
• When these circuits sense heat, they activate the neuron – in this case, one causing the fly to spread its wings (a gesture often used during mating).
• To provide the heat necessary for activation, researchers injected iron oxide nanoparticles into the insects’ brains. When a nearby magnetic field was switched on, those particles heated up, causing the neurons to fire and the fly to spread its wings.

👀 Looking ahead… While the university team wants to use their process to help restore vision in people whose eyes don’t work, the Defense Department’s R&D agency – which is funding the project – has other plans.

• Ultimately, DARPA wants to develop a headset that can read the neural activity in one person’s brain and then write it to another brain, aka transferring thoughts or perceptions between people.