FOR KIDS: Feeling the invisible

Sensor wired into a rat?s brain lets it detect light the animal can?t see

By Sid Perkins

Web edition: February 21, 2013

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Researchers trained a rat with a sensor wired into its brain to find water at a door marked with an invisible light.

Credit: Thomson et al., Nature Communications (2013)

A sensor wired to a portion of the rat brain that normally processes the sense of touch enabled the animal to detect a form of light it cannot ordinarily see, scientists report. The new research underscores how adaptable the brain is. It also offers hope that someday people who have suffered severe brain damage or who have?gone blind can regain some lost function.

Researchers mounted infrared sensors onto the scalps of rats.?Using tiny wires, they connected the detectors to that part of the rat brain that normally interprets signals coming from the whiskers. The connection allowed the rats to sense the infrared light that was visible only to the scalp sensors.

Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website?and read the full story:?Feeling the invisible

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348516/title/FOR_KIDS_Feeling_the_invisible

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