Wiring Computer Chips With Nerve Cells

Nerve cell tendrils readily thread their way through tiny semiconductor tubes, researchers find, forming a crisscrossed network like vines twining towards the sun. The discovery that offshoots from nascent mouse nerve cells explore the specially designed tubes could lead to tricks for studying nervous system diseases or testing the effects of potential drugs. Such a system may even bring researchers closer to brain-computer interfaces that seamlessly integrate artificial limbs or other prosthetic devices.

"This is quite innovative and interesting," says nanomaterials expert Nicholas Kotov of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "There is a great need for interfaces between electronic and neuronal tissues."…