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Brain gas find leads to robotic revolution SCIENTISTS believe that they can revolutionise robotics by simulating the action of a gas in the human brain. Dr Phil Husbands and Prof Michael O'Shea, of Sussex University, announced yesterday that they have transformed the network of artificial brain cells in a robot by using a toxic gas found in human brains. The result is a new artificial brain called a "gasnet". The gas - nitric oxide - is integral to the workings of the human brain, where it enables nerve cells - neurons - to communicate with each other. Prof O'Shea, who with Dr Husbands is a co-director of the university's Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics, said that the discovery that nitric oxide carried messages was "a completely new way of thinking about how the brain works". He said that it could boost attempts to replicate the human brain in robots. Prof O'Shea said the development "transforms robots' brains from being pretty slow and stupid to being faster, more adaptable and clever". By Roger Highfield Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998. Terms & Conditions of reading. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=001289195853521&rtmo=VuPumPPx&atmo=99999999&P4_FOLL OW_ON=/99/1/7/ecnbrain07.html&pg=/et/99/1/7/ecnbrain07.html> janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada <http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm> [log in to unmask]