Worm Uploaded to a Computer and Trained to Balance a Pole

Is it a computer program or a living being? At TU Wien (Vienna), the boundaries become blurred. The neural system of a nematode was translated into computer code - and then the virtual worm was taught amazing tricks. It is not much to look at: the nematode C. elegans is about one millimetre in length and is a very simple organism. But for science, it is extremely interesting. C. elegans is the only living being whose neural system has been analysed completely. It can be drawn as a circuit diagram or reproduced by computer software, so that the neural activity of the worm is simulated by a computer program. Such an artificial C. elegans has now been trained at TU Wien (Vienna) to perform a remarkable trick: The computer worm has learned to balance a pole at the tip of its tail.