Welcome to the EG Nobel Prize in Physics Lecture. This lecture explains why the research, work involving vibrating earthworms made people laugh and then think. The investigations were done by Ivan Maximov and Andrey Patotsky at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. The voiceover is read by Lisa D'Angeles. At face value it was simply two scientists observing a bunch of worms jiggling on a loud speaker. From these observations however, one could test the hypothesis stating that nerve impulses move not only as electric signals but also as sound waves. The results of this work may also help create a new, safer approach to linking the human brain with computers. The experiment was technically simple. Ivan Harvest says several earthworms in his backyard. He sedated them in vodka to relax their muscles and vibrated them on a loud speaker. He pointed a laser beam on the surface of the worm and measured the reflected light with a photodetector. In the spectrum of the reflected light was analyzed, Ivan and Andrey observed several peaks. Those peaks meant that there were some ripples on the body of the vibrated earthworm. Such ripples are known as ferrida waves. Ferrida waves can be seen on a vibrating liquid drop when the vibrations become intense enough to make the liquid surface unstable. Vibration's consists mostly of water, so the researchers expected a sedated worm to vibrate similarly to a water drop. When they switched the loudspeaker on, the whole worm moved up and down. But when they increased the volume to above the ferrida instability level, ferrida waves appeared on the worm's surface. Using striking similarity with the vibrated liquid drop, a computer model of a vibrated earthworm was developed, which allowed to visualize the shape of the ferrida ripples. Using this model, Andrey and Ivan managed to estimate the stiffness, stretchability, of the worm body. There have been numerous attempts to link the human brain with computers, a growing number of high-tech companies, including Elon Musk's Neuralink, planned to implant needle electrodes into human brains to achieve this. However, this approach is very invasive and poses significant health risks, such as inflammation of the brain tissue or brain damage. Sound and vibrations can both move through human skin, bones and tissue without causing damage. This is how medical ultrasound imaging is done. By externally generating ultrasound waves at different frequencies, such as on a mobile device, for instance, one may be able to trigger ferrida waves in the brain's tissues. The researchers think that these ferrida waves should interact with the brain's nerve impulses and activate certain signals corresponding to human thoughts. This may help create a safer, sound-based link between the human brain and computers, one that works without unsafe needle electrodes. To test a mobile device, non-sedated earthworms were vibrated on a buzzing mobile phone and ferrida waves were observed on their bodies. Seeing the human brain with computers would allow the transmission of knowledge. For example, how to fly a helicopter or speak a foreign language from a computer directly to a person's brain. Of course, we're still a long way off from knowing how to actually do something this complex. Thank you for your attention.