Brain in a dish - no joke!

Holy schnikies, Batman!

A University of Florida scientist has grown a living "brain" that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network.

The "brain" - a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish - gives scientists a unique real-time window into the brain at the cellular level. By watching the brain cells interact, scientists hope to understand what causes neural disorders such as epilepsy and to determine noninvasive ways to intervene....

Although the brain currently is able to control the pitch and roll of the simulated aircraft in weather conditions ranging from blue skies to stormy, hurricane-force winds, the underlying goal is a more fundamental understanding of how neurons interact as a network.

"Control tower, this is Flight 108... um, the plane is requesting a nip of mozerella. Please advise. Over."