A team of researchers led by Duke University neuroscientist Miguel Nicoleli have successfully implanted infrared sensors into the brains of rats, allowing them to sense and react to infrared light. The rats’ new sense was tested by guiding them to feeding stations which emitted infrared signals, which their sensors converted into electrical signals in their brains.
Remarkably, the animals adjusted to this completely new sense in as little as 6 hours when the sensors were connected directly to the visual cortex. This quick adjustment could have important implications for implanting sensory prosthetics into the brains of adult humans in the future.
