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... The signal traveled through the internet to a computer in the Korean laboratory, which relayed the command wirelessly to the implant. The system responded in an average of about 109 milliseconds.

This intercontinental test was an engineering demonstration: it showed that the device could be operated from another country.

Long-distance control could have a practical role in brain research. When researchers enter an experimental space or approach an animal to operate equipment, their presence may affect its behavior. A remotely activated device could reduce that interference and allow scientists in different locations to participate in the same experiments.

The system, called RAPIDO, was developed by researchers at KAIST and Yonsei University and described in a study published in Science Advances.

Small enough to be carried by a freely moving rat, RAPIDO can perform two different tasks inside the brain. It can deliver a substance through a tiny channel, and it can emit light from a miniature LED. Researchers can control these functions separately and schedule them in advance. ...