Tiny wireless device records animal brains in the wild, lighter than a dime

Image Credit: Laila Milevski/Cornell University Scientists at Cornell University have developed a tiny wireless device that can record brain activity while animals move freely through their surroundings. Lighter than a US dime, the device could give researchers a clearer view of how animals navigate, communicate and interact without being held back by wires or bulky equipment. Called the Wireless, Interactive, Lightweight Datalogger, or WILD, it brings together brain monitoring with information about movement and behaviour. This allows scientists to study neural activity in conditions that are much closer to the way animals actually live and behave.The tiny wireless device records animal brains in natural settingsThe WILD device was developed by a research team led by first author Zifang Zhao, with co-senior authors Azahara Oliva and Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz. The Cornell Chronicle reported that the technology was designed to address a basic problem in neuroscience which is recording brain activity without getting in the way of an animal's normal behaviour.In many traditional experiments, animals have to remain connected to recording equipment by wires. These systems can capture detai...