Lab Rats Given "Sixth Sense" 78
puddingebola writes "Researchers have given lab rats the ability to sense infrared light through a brain implant. From the article, 'They taught the rats to choose the active light source by poking their noses into a port to receive a sip of water as a reward. They then implanted the microelectrodes, each about a tenth the diameter of a human hair, into the animals' brains. These electrodes were attached to the infrared detectors. The scientists then returned the animals to the test chamber. At first, the rats scratched at their faces, indicating that they were interpreting the lights as touch. But after a month, the animals learned to associate the signal in their brains with the infrared source.'"
Re:Tracking and identifying (Score:5, Informative)
You see with your brain too. If someone draws a simple picture on your palm or back, you can still "see" it in your mind.
See also: http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattongue [discovermagazine.com]
The brain is able to learn to see whether the picture is generated by touch or sound.
And even with sound there are different ways for seeing,
echolocation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLziFMF4DHA [youtube.com]
and some software that converts images to pitch and left-right volume: http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm [seeingwithsound.com]
Maybe what they could try is implant a sensory array to baby/young rats and see if they can add a extra video input to rats.