[lanaius]

That's not the purpose of this experiment, as the capability to target specific neuron types has been well demonstrated in the past. It's approaching a toolbox technique at this point much like regular electrophysiology and electrical stimulation.

From the IEEE article (I did not read the original research paper) the goals of this experiment are lost in the veil of journalism, as it boils down to the following items:

1. Implantable chronic optogenetics (fairly novel)

2. Wireless RF power for said implant (novel context, not necessarily novel technique)

3. Use the optogenetics to do "something". This is the worst part of the article and is the meat of the Neuroscience - which neuron types are targeted (genetically), with which opsin, and histological evidence of where the opsins are located are all important features. The article seems to take at face that making rats pause and run in circles is interesting but scientifically speaking if you can't say anything about why they run in circles it's not a particularly good or useful study, as it doesn't actually give people any information.