A worm's brain was uploaded to a hard drive and put to the test -- without a single line of code

Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology (VUT) have put a brain on a circuit board -- specifically, the brain of the nematode C. elegans. They are now training it to perform tasks without a single line of human-written code. Image credits PROZEISS Microscopy / Flickr. But in one respect, this little nematode is unique and uniquely valuable for science -- it's the only living being whose neural system has been fully analyzed and mapped. In other words, its brain can be recreated as a circuit -- either onto a circuit board or one simulated with software -- without losing any of its function.