A team of scientists from the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) at the Vienna University of Technology have collaborated with researchers in the U.S. to develop a laser system that can be used to control the minds of fruit flies and make them dance.
The technology, called Fly Mind Altering Device (FlyMAD) tracks fruit flies in flight with cameras and hits them with specially-calibrated laser beams, according to Discovery News.
The laser is capable of not only targeting individual fruit flies, but also hitting specific parts of their bodies.
FlyMAD runs on Ubunto 12.04 on AMD64 machines, The Register reported.
"By steering the optical path of the laser using large diameter mirrors, it also enables simultaneous imaging of the target region," the researchers said. "This enables through-the-mirrors (TTM) targeting of specific body parts. Together, all this allows rapid thermo- and opto- genetic manipulation of the fly nervous system."
The team adjusts the activity of established neurons to figure out "the circuit mechanisms that shape behavior" which allows them to watch what happens when they fire off individual neurons.
The brain of a fruit fly is not very complex, Discovery News reported. The team was able to change certain neural pathways in the insect's brain by applying light and heat in a specific range.
The researchers managed to trigger responses in the flies that caused them to dance and sing. These behaviors are correlated with a consistent state of courtship.
"In the experiment this became obvious when males tried to mate with a ball of wax, circled it and started vibrating their wings after stimulation with the laser beam," European research website IDW Online reported.
Andrew Straw of the Department of Software Technology and Interactive Systems at VUT said studies in the future will combine light and heat to help activate or repress the fly's different genetic elements, RedOrbit reported.
"FlyMAD offers the fantastic opportunity to address many of our questions," Straw said. "We could, for example, analyze how single neurons function in a cascade within the neuronal circuit."
The research was published in the journal Nature Methods.
