Neuroscientists challenge all comers to determine the inner workings of a virtual mouse.
Its use is granted only to journalists and news media. Meet Mus silicium, a virtual mouse made up of a simulated network of brain cells. Mus silicium cannot forage for cheese, scurry across the floor, or even squeak. The rodent is really a computer simulation of a network of 660 brain cell-like components. John J. Hopfield, a Princeton University professor known for his ideas on information processing and associative memory systems, and New York University neurobiologist Carlos Brody are offering a cash prize to anyone who can determine the inner workings of the mouse.