By Susan Young, Technology Review
A microscopic light-emitting diode device that controls the activity of neurons has given researchers wireless control over animal behavior. The tiny device, tested in mice, causes less damage than other methods used to deliver light into the brain, report researchers in Thursday’s issue of Science, and it does not tether mice to a light source, enabling scientists to study behaviors more naturally than is normally possible. Many groups of neuroscientists have turned to light-based control of neurons to study the neuronal basis of behavior. To control the brain cells, researchers use optogenetics, a method for genetically modifying neurons that allows them to be activated or silenced with flashes of light.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513446/wireless-micro-leds-control-mouse-behavior/
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