Doom, a classic video game released in the year 1993 is now more or less a meme, as people joke about how the game can run on any device. Some examples being calculators, ATMs, smart fridges, even pregnancy tests. But scientists at cortical labs have done something unimaginable. They managed to connect a petri-dish of living human braincells (about 200,000 in number) and got them to interact with Doom.
How was this made possible?
The Australian company, Cortical Labs used their neuron powered microchip to play ping pong first, with which they used about 800,000 braincells. Doom is of course a way more complex game than ping pong as it is 3d, and needs exploring the surroundings, and they still managed to complete the experiment with only 200,000 braincells.
Scientists at cortical labs and an individual researcher named Sean Cole made an API with which they programmed Doom. The digital world of Doom into the biological language of neurons, which is electricity. The Cortical Labs API was built so that any user can interact with cells living in the CL1 with simple python commands. Using the API, Sean managed to map the video feed from the game into patterns of electrical stimulation.
Teaching the Neurons how to play Doom
Whenever a demon appeared on the left of the screen, specific electrodes stimulate the sensory area of the neural culture on the left side. The neurons react to that stimulation. After that the responses and spikes of the neurons were interpreted as motor commands.
If the neurons fire in a specific pattern, they will shoot, move right left and etc.
So the cells can play. They are receiving information and sending back commands to move around, find enemies and shoot. But the cells obviously still play like they are beginners who have seen a computer for the first time, which is of course fair because they are learning.
Why Scientists Are Doing This
Cortical Labs are using braincells to play games like ping pong and Doom so that they can figure out how neurons work and respond to their environments. This data is very useful in understanding mechanisms of real biological networks.
This also contributes to the development of biological computers, with which neurons can work with existing computer parts to solve complex problems.
Studying neurons and braincells like this might also help with curing neurological diseases. All of it may look useless but it is valuable information on how the brain works.
Beyond “Can It Run Doom?”
Doom can run on any device, but connecting living human neurons from the brain and training them to play Doom by transforming visual data into electrical signals and then getting back the neuron response is something different
Even though neurons can still bot play Doom like esports players, we got to know how they interact with the electric signals. This is a magnificent achievement and will definitely help in research related to the human brain and neurons.
But, now Doom can be played in a way no one imagined before.
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