I know that the researchers are looking at this (publicly) from the point of creating organic computer networks of animals with applications in prosthesis, but my first thought was: "These guys created a form of telepathy."  Imagine, you could have an implant that connects you to other people with a similar implant for the purposes of instant communication.  Soldiers could be trained to control animals or robots on the battlefield, messages between people that speak different languages could possibly not have portions get lost in translation, learning would be revolutionized.

Maybe it's the geek in me, but I imagine this being useful in concepts brought up in Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix.  One can only hope :)


Also, kudos to a fellow ferret owner :)

I'm hopeful/disapointed in the computing portion. This is a form of bio-networking (telepathy as you say). It has a lot of great potential.

Unfortunately, this distracts from the research that interests me: bio computers. I have always envisioned a species, genetically tailored to being a computer. I see this technology as a tool in that direction, but its just an interface.

It just occured to me that the behvior the rats are exhibitting is straight out of star trek (the borg). They are sharing their risk reward mechanism and are no longer an individual. Individuality is an important evolutionary trait in mammals (risk mitigator at the species level), and I see risks in slapping a hive model on top of that.

Fascinating stuff in general.