Laboratory rats able to communicate telepathically

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
3/1/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Experiment links one rat in Brazil and another rat in North Carolina

An amazing experiment conducted on laboratory rats may lead to practical applications of telepathy, that favorite trope of science-fiction and fantasy fiction where people can communicate through the powers of their minds. An experiment conducted at Duke University led rats to interpret the other's actions and intentions -- even when they couldn't see or hear each other.

Scientists were able to interpret a rat's thoughts and intentions by downloading those brain waves into a computer. The experiment marked the first time another rat has been able to understand the signals directly.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Placed in separate cages, the rats were able to solve puzzles with the aid of microelectrodes as slender as 1/100th the width of a hair implanted into their brains.

The result: The experiment worked when the rats were thousands of miles apart -- with one in Brazil and another in North Carolina.

Scientists were able to interpret a rat's thoughts and intentions by downloading those brain waves into a computer. The experiment marked the first time another rat has been able to understand the signals directly.

"Until recently we used to record this brain activity and send it to a computer," Miguel Nicolelis of Duke's Medical Center in North Carolina says. The leader of the study, Nicolelis told the BBC's Science in Action program how the system works. "And the [computer] tells us what the animal is going to do.

"We basically created a computational unit out of two brains," Nicolelis said.

He feels the research will lead to practical application for those dealing with brain injuries and paralysis, such as stroke victims. Any tangible results of the research are still a long way off, but that hasn't deterred Nicolelis, who heads one of the leading research teams in the brain space.

One of the group's lofty goals is to allow a paralyzed person to kick a ball at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by developing a brain-controlled robot exoskeleton. The team has already fooled monkey brains into artificially feeling touch and given rats the ability to detect infrared light.

Accomplishing the feat in order to let the rats communicate with each other using only their brains was no easy feat. In the experiment, the "encoder" rat had to respond to a visual cue and press a lever to receive its reward.

At the same time, its brain would send a signal to the "decoder" rat, which then has to interpret this information and also press the right lever to get its prize. If the decoder rat gets it right, the encoder gets an extra reward, creating a feedback loop that encourage cleaner brain signaling.

It took a month and a half of training before the rats "got it."

"[It] takes about 45 days of training an hour a day," Nicolelis said. "There is a moment in time when ... it clicks. Suddenly the [decoder] animal realizes: 'Oops! The solution is in my head. It's coming to me' and he gets it right."

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Telepathy, mind control, Duke University, laboratory rats, stroke, paralysis

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

DAJOKN
2 months ago
Apart from George Adkisson's ill informed nonsense, I do not think that this technology will have much of an impact on society beyond what has already been accomplished with the IPhone and email. We are already able to communicate nearly instantly. If brought to market in a form that is easy to set up and use, however, this technology would defiantly replace email.
George Ronald Adkisson
2 months ago
This is a good example what an electromagnetically saturated hearing environment can accomplish...and not only for humans, but for mice as well. The first symptom would be the ears ringing a high pitched tone...then an induced psychosis begins, where individuals hear voices and noises from outside the head.A normal uS Psychiatrist would tell them, it all originated in their brain...a brain that does not have two communication centers.
To hear what each other thinks is simple...all accomplished through the two membranous sacs in the vestibule of the ear's inner ear.
Some people even experience a pop of the ear...like there had suddenly been a change in barometric pressure from altitudes changes.That then is called a radar or microwave audible hearing...which is usually associated with the tinnitus ringing of the ears.Living in high altitudes has been associated with higher incidents of suicide.
The uS changed the name for dementia praecox and coined it schizophrenia in the early 1900's. Probably due to it's ability to produce a monetary profit.
President Woodrow Wilson probably experienced a rise in reported cases of the same telepathic hearing or dementia praecox...the ones experiencing the event quickly hurried to a mental institution...where they became test individuals for pharmaceuticals that have never cured one mental disorder.
The uS military, etc. has had the ability to accomplish an externally induced telepathic or schizophrenic event even during Woodrow Wilson's term as President before World War One.
Today they call the devices Microwave Weapons or direct energy weapons and when confronted simply fall into a state of non-acknowledgment.
Weapons of this nature used against the human's ability to think is currently unchecked in the uS and around the globe.
I have sympathy for the test mice...people too, that suffer schizophrenia around social-economical, politically influenced men sleep walking.
Josephine Boone
2 months ago
The title to this article is misleading like so may of the "science" articles at this site. Telepathy is defined as the transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction. But in the experiments described the animals are connected. The experiments described are real science and very interesting. Telepathy is nonsense.

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