Few things in modern life are more stressful and frustrating than when the Internet slows to a creep or-worse-grinds to a halt. Perhaps the only other aspect of modern life equally frustrating is a traffic jam. Indeed, experts who study computer networks draw many analogies between traffic on our highways and traffic on the Net.

By creating robots controlled by rat brain cells, a team of computer scientists are gathering information that might lead to partially organic computer systems capable of adaptive behavior and learning.