Japanese scientists made a geomagnetic compass device that helps blind rats to "see" by partially restoring their "allocentric sense."
Hiroaki Norimoto and Yuji Ikegaya developed a very lightweight head-mountable digital compass device, similar to what is found on smartphones today, that is connected to a microstimulator paired with two electrodes.
Once it is in place, the brain device detected the blind rat's head movements. A "geomagnetic signal" was generated to inform the rat on whether it was facing north, south, east or west.
The Japanese scientists tried to test if the device could help guide the blind rats in a maze, according to Medical News. The device had a rechargeable battery so that it was not a hassle to just attach new ones.
In just three days of training in the maze, the blind rats learned to rely on the geomagnetic signal the device generated to seek for the food pellets inside complicated mazes and even a T-shaped one.
The Japanese duo reported that the blind rats' performance were almost equal to that of normal-sighted rats, according to Eurekalert. Ikegaya said the team was surprised on their findings.
"Thus, blind rats can recognize self-location through extrinsically provided stereotactic cues," Ikegaya and Norimoto wrote in the study, published in the Current Biology journal.
The research team believes that the results of the study could be analyzed and be adjusted for human application. For instance, a variation of the geomagnetic sensors can be attached to walking canes of blind patients to guide them navigate their physical environment.
Ikegaya said that the brain can be helped to detect more "colorful" world sensory as some have poor sensory organs.