[Joker]

Molecular biologist David Tank at Princeton University and his colleagues have created a special hacked version of Quake II using its underlying physics engine. But this game is for mice, not people. And don’t expect to see helmeted mice in camouflage fatigues packing heat in virtual space any time soon.

Tank’s special custom version of Quake II is actually a novel approach to the study of how the brain's hippocampus creates maps of its surroundings. “The mouse is playing a video game," says Tank. The harnessed mouse walks atop a floating styrofoam ball –- essentially a treadmill –- and navigates through virtual corridors:

The mouse’s ball is kept aloft by a jet of air. It is surrounded by sensors taken from optical computer mice (like the ones you use to control your computer’s cursor) that read the ball’s movement as the mouse runs through the corridors. Wired reports that rather than “earning points or power-ups,” the mice were rewarded with sips of water from a head-side nozzle.

Dr. Tank’s research involves persistent neural activity in experiments that use advanced electro-physiological, imaging, and genetic techniques. His innovative gaming platform for rodents is a clever way of overcoming the problem of tracking individual neurons in moving animals. Along with Christopher Harvey, Forrest Collman, and Daniel Dombeck, Dr. Tank co-authored a paper on the Quake II experiment, recently published in Nature, titled “Intracellular dynamics of hippocampal place cells during virtual navigation.”

Using place cells, the researchers made the first direct measurements of the cellular activity associated with spatial navigation. Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that exhibit a high rate of firing whenever an animal is in a specific location in an environment. Place cell neurons are distinct from other neurons with spatial firing properties. These other neurons include grid cells, border cells, head direction cells, and spatial view cells.

In mice, spatial navigation involves at least four different cell types located in the hippocampus and surrounding regions. Place cells increase their activity when the animal is near a place field. Grid cells, in contrast, fire periodically as the animal traverses a space. Head direction cells, as their name implies, fire when the animal is facing a particular direction. Only recently identified, border encode the animal's distance from the borders within its environment.

http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/ne...-virtual-space

Blah, blah, blah science, blah, blah, blah.

The Important thing is, WHY THE HELL ARE THEY WASTING THIS TECHNOLOGY ON MICE!? I would pay good money for a setup like that!

[Mincher]

Originally Posted by Joker

I would pay good money for a setup like that!

Why don't you then? I'm sure it can be built on a bigger scale.

Water dispenser helmet and all.

[Ray()]

Is it just me or is the mouse in the video going only in one direction? Looks like it's just trying to get away from this weird styrofoam ball and doesn't really care about any virtual reality projections in front of it. I mean the mouse must know that there's something weird about the place they put it in and the first reflex is to run away - not through the virtual corridors but off this fracking ball.

Mincher: water dispenser people would soon put different liquids in there

[Dragon9080]

What gets me is why does the ball have to be suspended in air? To me it seems like a case of "Because we can!" rather then a necessity.

[Mincher]

Originally Posted by Dragon9080

What gets me is why does the ball have to be suspended in air? To me it seems like a case of "Because we can!" rather then a necessity.

Well, a mouse is quite light and probably wouldn't be able to generate enough force to move something on a ball-bearing system. The air cushion would provide an almost frictionless environment, allowing them to record every minute movement of the mouse.

Also, because they can!

[Scott M C4D]

Maybe they are testing it so they can invent a way to send a mouse to Mars for a trial run

[Command0-182]

Originally Posted by Joker

The Important thing is, WHY THE HELL ARE THEY WASTING THIS TECHNOLOGY ON MICE!? I would pay good money for a setup like that!

I got a piece of cheese for ya! See if you can find your way over here.

[Frankie V]

Ok hold on.

I’m I the only one who watched this video that had a smile on their face for the rest of the day?

This is better tan a hamster in a plastic ball.

[enhzflep]

Originally Posted by Joker

The Important thing is, WHY THE HELL ARE THEY WASTING THIS TECHNOLOGY ON MICE!? I would pay good money for a setup like that!

:giggle:

They're not. WE already have the tech - the equipment used in the mouse experiment is bears great similarity to something we've had around for ears'
n'ears.

Speaking of good-money, how much of it you wanna lump over to pick up your latest purchase?
They've got a sale on at the moment and you can save some $10,000.

Here, feast your eyes on this: http://www.virtusphere.com/

[rangerbob]

Originally Posted by enhzflep

http://www.virtusphere.com/

i have got to get me one of these