In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world
TL;DR
Imagine taking brain cells from humans and mice, growing them in a petri dish, and then connecting them to a computer so they can play the classic video game Pong. That's essentially what these researchers did. They created a system called 'DishBrain' where real neurons (brain cells) were hooked up to electrodes that could both send signals to the cells and read their electrical activity. When the 'paddle' hit the ball in Pong, the cells got predictable feedback, but when they missed, the feedback was chaotic and unpredictable. Amazingly, within just 5 minutes, these brain cells learned to play better - they got better at keeping the ball in play. The cells essentially figured out that hitting the ball led to orderly, predictable signals, while missing led to chaos, so they adapted their behavior to hit the ball more often.
Integrating neurons into digital systems may enable performance infeasible with silicon alone. Here, we develop DishBrain, a system that harnesses the inherent adaptive computation of neurons in a structured environment. In vitro neural networks from human or rodent origins are integrated with in silico computing via a high-density multielectrode array. Through electrophysiological stimulation and recording, cultures are embedded in a simulated game-world, mimicking the arcade game "Pong." Applying implications from the theory of active inference via the free energy principle, we find apparent learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay not observed in control conditions. Further experiments demonstrate the importance of closed-loop structured feedback in eliciting learning over time. Cultures display the ability to self-organize activity in a goal-directed manner in response to sparse sensory information about the consequences of their actions, which we term synthetic biological intelligence. Future applications may provide further insights into the cellular correlates of intelligence.
- 1In vitro cortical neurons from both human (hiPSC-derived) and mouse (primary E15.5) sources demonstrated significant learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay in a simulated Pong environment, as measured by increased average rally length over time.
- 2Closed-loop feedback was essential for learning: cultures receiving structured stimulus feedback (predictable on hit, unpredictable on miss) outperformed those with silent feedback or no feedback, demonstrating that information alone is insufficient to drive learning.
- 3Human cortical cells initially performed worse than controls but ultimately outperformed mouse cortical cells at the second timepoint, providing preliminary empirical evidence that human neurons may have superior information-processing capacity.
- 4Electrophysiological analysis revealed that gameplay increased functional plasticity, strengthened sensory-motor cross-correlations, and reduced information entropy during predictable exchanges, while unpredictable feedback increased entropy, consistent with the free energy principle.
- 5The DishBrain system demonstrated that monolayers of neurons can self-organize firing activity in a goal-directed manner through closed-loop embodiment, representing the first synthetic biological intelligence device to exhibit adaptive real-time behavior.
M87's black hole flipped its magnetic field
Imagine a bar magnet with a north and south pole. Now imagine that magnet suddenly flipping so north becomes south and vice versa. That's essentially what happened with the magnetic field around the giant black hole at the center of galaxy M87 — except this black hole is 6.5 billion times heavier than our Sun. Scientists noticed this flip by watching the powerful beam of energy, called a jet, that shoots out from the black hole. The direction and behavior of that beam changed in a way that revealed the magnetic field had reversed. It's a big deal because those magnetic fields are thought to act like the engine that powers and steers these cosmic jets, and we've rarely caught one flipping in action.
Odd shapes hidden in dense Amazon rainforest reveal sprawling ancient civilization
Imagine you're flying over the Amazon rainforest and the trees are so thick you can't see the ground. Now imagine using a laser scanner from an airplane that can 'see through' all those leaves and branches — like X-ray vision for forests. When scientists did this, they found the outlines of huge ancient cities hidden underneath: roads, plazas, earthworks, and buildings that had been swallowed up by jungle for hundreds or thousands of years. It's like finding out there was a giant, bustling city underneath your backyard the whole time. These weren't small villages — we're talking about potentially millions of people living in organized, complex societies in a place we thought was mostly empty wilderness.
Over 20,000 precolonial earthworks in the Southwest Amazonia
Imagine flying a special laser scanner over the Amazon jungle that can 'see through' the treetops, like X-ray vision for the ground. When scientists did this, they found over 20,000 geometric shapes — ditches, mounds, and enclosures — built by ancient people long before Europeans arrived. These aren't small things: they're massive earthen structures, like monuments. This means the Amazon rainforest, which most people picture as empty wilderness, was actually home to millions of people who built cities and shaped the landscape. Think of it like discovering that a forest you thought was wild was actually someone's ancient garden on a continental scale.
The 2026 World Cup's grass is an engineering problem
Imagine you're trying to play soccer in 16 different places across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — some in freezing cold, some blazing hot, some in stadiums with roofs that block sunlight. Half of those stadiums normally use fake grass. Now FIFA, the organization that runs the World Cup, wants every single pitch to feel and play exactly the same way, like a video game where every level has identical physics. To do that, they hired grass scientists — yes, that's a real job — who figured out how to grow special grass on thin mats with plastic underneath so it can be transported like a carpet, stitched with synthetic fibers so it doesn't rip when players sprint and tackle, and tested by literally shooting balls at it with a cannon to make sure it bounces right. Different grass species are used depending on whether a stadium is hot, cool, or dark. It's basically a giant, living, high-tech floor installation that has to survive the world's best athletes running on it.