Include a short summary with the link. Here's a suggestion: Rats are trained to press one of two levers. Their short-term to long-term memory formation is then inhibited by separating two parts of their hippocampi, so they press a lever at random. Scientists have developed an implant that emulates communication between the two parts, allowing rats to learn. It also reinforces memory formation if added on top of a normal hippocampus. This promises control of memory formation, which promises external memory modules, which promises Keanu Reeves.
This is typical horrible overblown science journalism, complete with sci-fi references. The press release is much more reasonable.
Do you or or does anyone know where I would go to get realistic forecasts of when various IA technologies might be developed, or what hard technical or sociopolitical steps are in the way? E.g. intelligence-enhancing brain implants, or genetically optimized humans? I don't get the impression that many such research groups exist and are getting funding, but you'd think the market would be all over future tech, so my impression's probably wrong, no?
For anyone interested in tracking the spread of stories like this, it hit Gizmodo which just links to the same prnewswire as this one:
http://gizmodo.com/5813821/scientists-create-first-memory-expansion-for-brain
http://m.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/the-matrix-reality-new-study-successfully-implants-artificial-memory-system/7436