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Scientists are getting closer to the man-machine interface: digital processing of rat brain neurons, with live cyborg rats planned for later this year.

Berger’s research team—an all-star roster of neuroscientists, mathematicians, computer engineers and bioengineers from around the country—has so far managed to reproduce only a minute amount of brain activity. Their chip models fewer than 12,000 neurons, compared with the 100 billion or so present in a human brain. Yet researchers within the field say that even this small number represents a stunning achievement in the field of neuro-engineering. “It’s the type of science that can change the world,” says Richard H. Granger, Jr., a professor of brain sciences who leads the Neukom Institute for Interdisciplinary Computational Sciences at Dartmouth College. “Replicating memory is going to happen in our lifetimes, and that puts us on the edge of being able to understand how thought arises from tissue—in other words, to understand what consciousness really means.”

The wet-wire tech looks like it’s at least 15 years away from human trials (although I guess you can play with an Emotiv Epoc in the meantime, if you can get your hands on one…)

It looks like we’ll have some interesting brain toys to play with in our lifetimes, but for me it can’t come fast enough. I want room service!