Scientists in Israel have taught a goldfish to drive a 'vehicle' in a unique experiment.
The bonkers test involved a fish inside a tank propelling a vehicle forward and choosing its direction by focusing on a visual target.
The 'vehicle' then used a LIDAR system, similar to what is used in autonomous cars, to map its movement.
If the vehicle hit a pink target at the end of its journey, the fish would receive a pellet as a reward.
In a press release concerning the experiment, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel said: “The fish was tasked to ‘drive’ the FOV towards a visual target in the terrestrial environment, which was observable through the walls of the tank, and indeed were able to operate the vehicle, explore the new environment, and reach the target regardless of the starting point, all while avoiding dead-ends and correcting location inaccuracies.
“The findings nevertheless suggest that the way space is represented in the fish brain and the strategies it uses may be as successful in a terrestrial environment as they are in an aquatic one,” they added.
It's genuinely one of the craziest experiments we've come across in a long while, but it's a sad state of affairs when a goldfish can pass a driving test and your mate can't...
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