Scientists taught brain cells to play legendary 'Pong' game

The irresistible lure of the game "Pong" is now known by brain cells. According to a study from Cortical Labs, neurons can adapt and get better as time goes on, and that they are capable of playing a version of the table tennis game.

The study's authors put human stem cells and mouse embryonic cells in a dish to be captured and stimulated. In order to recreate a Pong-like environment in the dish, scientists delivered inputs to the electrodes to mimic the presence of a ball. They recorded how cells acted in this scenario. This was translated into whether or not the cells were able to catch the ball.

Scientists discovered that the more games the cells play, the better they get. The human and mouse cell cultures missed the initial serve less. Animals wouldn't exist otherwise because cells are capable of using feedback. This is the first time that scientists have been able to use this ability for a goal directed behavior.

A visualization of DishBrain, which created the Pong-like environment. Credit: Cortical Labs

We can mimic intelligence by creating an environment that controls the sentience and self-organizing capabilities of cells. The leader of the study said that it was the new way to think about a neuron. The cell's historic game has a lot of potential. Valuable insight into the study of neurological diseases could be provided by it. Karl Friston, co-author and theoretical neuroscientist at University College London, said in the announcement that it represents a "sandbox" for testing the effects of drugs and genetic variant with the same computing elements found in your brain.

The next step is to add alcohol. That's for the cells. "We're trying to create a dose response curve with the idea of getting them drunk and seeing if they play the game worse than before."

You might be able to predict the outcome of a game if you've played it before. We are governed by these cells.