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Nature 416, 274-275 (21 March 2002) | doi:10.1038/416274a
Materials science: Breaking the neural code
Adam Curtis
Abstract
The precise information that is conveyed between nerve cells remains unknown. Networks of nerve cells grown on silicon chips, using a polyester as a guide, may bring us closer to translating the elusive neural language.
Within a nerve cell, or neuron, differences in electrical potential encode information, and messages can be passed on to other neurons through connections that may be chemical or electrical. But, like nineteenth-century linguists contemplating the hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone, we have only vague clues as to the symbolism and language, let alone the grammar or syntax, of neural messages.
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