Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, stepped on the California Academy of Science stage to make some big announcements. But this time, it was not about any new rocket or electric car; instead, he talked about a system that can record the activity of millions of neurons in our brain.

This implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) 's main motive is to help people with quadriplegia control their mobile or computer devices just by their thoughts. This thing is like merging humans with AI, which will lead to providing people with superhuman intelligence.

What are Neural Implants?

Neurons are the cells that speak the language of electricity. A brain implant or a neural implant is a system that enables communication between humans and electronic devices. This device is in the form of an electrode that is impregnated in the brain. It can modify, record, or translate brain activities. These brain recordings can monitor abnormal brain activity or detect the onset of an epileptic seizure. Brain implants can also be used in several medical applications, including neurological diseases like Parkinson's disease.

A neural implant that assists paralyzed persons is referred to as a neural prosthetic.

How do neural implants work?

Neural implants are devices that are either placed on the surface of the cortex of the brain. Let us consider the example of a treatment known as deep brain stimulation or DBS. In this method, an electrode is fixed deep inside the brain surgically. These electrodes then record the nerve cell's electrical activity and help prevent many other brain-related disorders.

A neural implant gathers data from one area of the brain, processes it, and then transfers it to the other brain area by passing through any damaged tissue, the form of an electrochemical impulse.

The above-described phenomena are just unidirectional communication, but if we can create a bidirectional communication, we can understand or re-experience our lives and other people's lives in the same way. These methods could help a lot in improving human understanding.

All you need to know about "NEURALINK"

Neuralink is Elon Musk's company, founded in 2016 and has been developing a brain-machine interface technology ever since. In 2020 Elon announced that they had tried Neuralink brain implants on three live pigs, which proved to be a huge success. He also said that we could remove these implants after installation if we want to upgrade or remove these devices permanently. These processes would not affect a person's health. They will be indistinguishable from normal human beings. Max Hodak, the president of Neuralink, even said that more than two devices could be placed in a different section of the brain. 

Let us hope that these devices and technologies will help us record memories and telepathy soon.

Author

Shivangi Singh
Dr. D. Y. Patil Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Institute
Pune, India