Researchers have developed a new brain implant. It consists of dozens of silicon microchips that
Each such “grain” contains enough microelectronics.
Work on neurogranules began four years ago, with scientists from the University of California at San Diego and Qualcomm participating in the study.
In addition to recording brain activity, "neurogranules"can also stimulate nerve cells with small electrical impulses. This technology can help in the treatment of brain diseases, such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. Also, such chips will be useful in restoring brain functions that are lost due to injury. So far, scientists have tested “neurogranules” only on rodents.
During the experiment, scientists implanted 48chips in the rat's cerebral cortex to cover most of the motor and sensory areas. A thin patch the size of a thumbprint is attached to the head. It acts as an external communication node, receiving signals from the chips, processing and charging them wirelessly.
The researchers tested the system whilethe animal was under anesthesia. They found that the chips recorded the spontaneous brain activity of the unconscious rat.
However, there was one catch:signal quality was not as good as that of commercial ICs used in existing brain-computer interfaces. The researchers believe that if they can improve the quality of the signal output, it will allow exploration of broader areas of the brain, and the prototype will lay the foundation for research in humans.
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