Nerve cells in a dish can learn to play Pong

Something new is on the menu of neuroscience. It is called “DishBrain”. This is not a recently discovered regional delicacy, but rather a network of nerve cells, grown on a computer chip, which is capable of interacting with the outside world via that chip. As a proof of principle, Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, a small firm in Melbourne, Australia, and his collaborators, have taught the cells to play Pong, an early video game that resembles an electronic form of table tennis.