
Neuroscientists decode the brain activity of the worm - henriquemaia
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-neuroscientists-decode-brain-worm.html
======
ChuckMcM
Ok, that is pretty cool. Next up, inducing neural activity in worms to drive
them around. If you can go both ways (observe and predict, and induce and
demonstrate) you really do have the worm's brain all figured out.

Then you build a mining robot with mineral sensors that can detect the ore
your interested in. Now you strap in your worm brain and you have your local
computer translate motion signals into robot motion, and mineral detection
into food detection. And voila you have a robotic miner which forages around
for ore to process.

~~~
dekhn
Driving mice is already possible. [https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-
news/2010/09/light-workout...](https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-
news/2010/09/light-workout-scientists-use-optogenetics-to-effectively-
stimulate-muscle-movement-in-mice.html)

I believe this was also done in insects, although I can't find the article.

With C. Elegans, the difference is that we will be able to understand it in
far more detail.

As for mining robots, biology already has you beat. The entire earth in
enervated with slow-growing mining bacteria. They are probably a better place
to start for industrial purposes.

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Animats
_" They used worms genetically engineered with a fluorescent protein that
caused the worm's neurons to flash when they were active."_

Now that's impressive.

So can OpenWorm, the C. Elegans simulator, get the same patterns?

~~~
etrautmann
I'm currently working on extending this technique to higher order primates.
It's unbelievably cool that these protein sensors work. If you're curious
about the details, check out GCaMP and calcium imaging, or these papers
(paywall)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_imaging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_imaging)

[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v499/n7458/abs/nature12...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v499/n7458/abs/nature12354.html)

[http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/40/13819.full](http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/40/13819.full)

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tux1968
It sounded as if they have mapped all of the connections between neurons in
previous work. Which suggests these connections are genetic rather than
learned, and the same in every individual worm. While that makes studying them
much easier, I find it surprising. I suppose that's how innate abilities are
conferred on the next generation even in humans where many connections will
indeed be individually learned/constructed. Very interesting.

~~~
spin
Yes. The worm c.elegans has 302 neurons, connected in a specific way.

From the article:

"For almost 30 years, the list of connections between individual neurons has
been known. Despite the low number of neurons, its neuronal networks possesse
a high degree of complexity and sophisticated behavioral output; the worm thus
represents an animal of choice to study brain function."

~~~
skybrian
Apparently they just found two more in males:

[http://www.nature.com/news/surprise-mystery-neurons-found-
in...](http://www.nature.com/news/surprise-mystery-neurons-found-in-male-
worms-1.18558)

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iandanforth
Full paper:
[http://www.cell.com/cell/pdfExtended/S0092-8674(15)01196-4](http://www.cell.com/cell/pdfExtended/S0092-8674\(15\)01196-4)

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dekhn
Interestingly, C. Elegans also autofluoresces- without the need for any
special genes to be cloned in. When it dies, a bright wave of light passes
through its body.

~~~
etrautmann
Lots of proteins have natural fluorescence. You'll notice this if you shine
blacklight in ocean water - it'll glow brightly from all of the little
microorganisms that aren't intending to fluoresce but do so incidentally.
There are also bioluminescent organisms but that's different.

~~~
dekhn
Sure, IIRC from my college chemistry classes it's mostly Trp or Try
fluorescence.

In this case, it's still considered fairly puzzling why the flash is so
intense or what its "actual function" or whether it's protein fluorescence at
all:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3735983/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3735983/)

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Aardwolf
Is it possible to access the data of how the 302 cells are connected
somewhere? Would be awesome to emulate in software.

~~~
shpx
This might be what you are looking for
[http://www.wormatlas.org/neuronalwiring.html](http://www.wormatlas.org/neuronalwiring.html)
specifically this file
[http://www.wormatlas.org/images/NeuronConnect.xls](http://www.wormatlas.org/images/NeuronConnect.xls)
that you can read in pandas

