Science & Technology

Scientists create real-life 'Borg' network

By T.K. Randall
October 2, 2018

Image: Quintephone Brainwave Regen Poster
Credit: Glogger / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Known as BrainNet, the remarkable achievement was made possible using a combination of electroencephalograms (EEGs), which record the electrical impulses from brain activity, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which stimulate neurons using magnetic fields.

In a recent experiment, two 'senders' had their brains connected up to the network and were asked to control a Tetris-style game by way of staring at one of two different flashing LEDs.

A third connected individual - the 'receiver' - was able to pick up the control commands from the other two and use them to rotate the blocks in the game.

Across five different groups of participants, an accuracy level of over 80% was achieved."We present BrainNet which, to our knowledge, is the first multi-person non-invasive direct brain-to-brain interface for collaborative problem solving," the researchers wrote.

"The interface allows three human subjects to collaborate and solve a task using direct brain-to-brain communication."

In the future, the scientists hope to connect much larger groups of people together in a similar way.

Eventually, the technology could result in interconnected brain networks much like that of the Borg - the fictional cybernetic antagonists of the Star Trek franchise.

"Our results raise the possibility of future brain-to-brain interfaces that enable cooperative problem solving by humans using a 'social network' of connected brains," the researchers wrote.

Source: Science Alert

Tags: Network, Brain