Merging brain power

Meet Mango the monkey and his problem-solving partner, Romeo.

At Duke University, both primates are currently separated physically, but will soon be connected, mentally. Signals from their brains will be merged as the result of years of research inside the lab of Dr. Miguel Nicolelis.

Nicolelis has made studying the brain his life’s mission. It was his neurological work with rats that first gained widespread attention. Then he taught primates how to move wheelchairs and exoskeletons using only their minds.

That was followed by his wildest idea yet: trying to merge the power of multiple brains.

“We needed to create a new paradigm. So we introduced this concept of linking brains to machines,” Nicolelis said.

Some of his peers said it would be an impossible feat.

Read more or watch the story from CBS.