If rats could draw, it might look like this ...

[Ediacara]

Saturday, July 12, 2003

If rats could draw, it might look like this ...

By BOB KEEFE
COX NEWS SERVICE

Who says rats are uncultured vermin?

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Western Australia have created a robot that uses the neural impulses of rat brain cells to draw pictures.

The living brains of the device dubbed the "Semi-Living Artist" stay in Atlanta, where they are nurtured in a petri dish in a lab decorated with a picture of the kitschy robot from the 1960s sci-fi classic "Lost in Space."

Impulses captured by sensors are sent over the Internet to the machine -- basically a mechanical arm wired to a computer -- making it scribble on the canvas.

More at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but unfortunately no pictures :-(

[I AM SPARTACUS]

1. well, it might look like this ...