Neuralink, co-founded by Elon Musk in 2016, is developing a chip that would be implanted in people’s brains to simultaneously record and stimulate brain activity. It’s intended to have medical applications, such as treating serious spinal-cord injuries and neurological disorders.
During a live-streamed interview at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Monday, Musk was asked what Neuralink planned to do in 2022. Musk said, “Neuralink’s working well in monkeys, and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable, and the Neuralink device can be removed safely.”
Musk has said that Neuralink, his brain-interface technology company, hopes to start implanting its microchips in humans next year.
What exactly neural link can do?
Neuralink is a gadget that will be surgically inserted into the brain using robotics by neurosurgeons. In this procedure, a chipset called the link is implanted in the skull. It has some insulated wires connected to the electrodes that are used in the process.
This device can then be used to operate smartphones and computers without having to touch it. How does this ‘innovation (that is) pushing the boundaries of neural engineering’ work’
Neuralink is working super hard to ensure implant safety & is in close communication with the FDA. If things go well, we might be able to do initial human trials later this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2021
How does it work:
Before understanding how does Neuralink work, it is best to comprehend the science behind the human brain. The brain consists of neurons that transmit signals to cells in the body including muscle, nerve, gland and other neuron cells. Every neuron is made up of three parts called the dendrite, the soma (cell body) and the axon. Each of these parts has its function.
The dendrite receives the signals. The soma processes these signals. The axon then transmits the signals to the other cells. The neurons are connected by the synapses which release neurotransmitters. These chemical substances are then sent to another neuron cell’s dendrite causing the flow of current across the neurons.
The electrodes that are part of the Neuralink will read electrical signals that are produced by several neurons in the brain. The signals are then outputted in form of an action or movement. According to the company’s website, the device is implanted directly in the brain because placing it outside the head will not detect the signals produced by the brain accurately. Now that you know what is Neuralink and how it works, get to know what does Neuralink do.
Neuralink can be used to operate encephalopathy. It can also be used as a connection between the human brain and technology. This means that people with paralysis can easily operate their phones and computer directly with their brains.
Its main purpose is to help people to communicate through text or voice messages. Of course, Neuralink is not limited to that, it can also be utilized to draw pictures, take photographs and do other activities.
The Silicon Valley company, which has already successfully implanted artificial intelligence microchips in the brains of a macaque monkey named Pager and a pig named Gertrude, is now recruiting for a “clinical trial director” to run tests of the technology in humans.
As the clinical trial director, you’ll work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first clinical trial participants,” the advert for the role in Fremont, California, says. “You will lead and help build the team responsible for enabling Neuralink’s clinical research activities and developing the regulatory interactions that come with a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.”
Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated $256bn fortune, said last month he was cautiously optimistic that the implants could allow tetraplegic people to walk.
We hope to have this in our first humans, which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics, next year, pending FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approval,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit.
“I think we have a chance with Neuralink to restore full-body functionality to someone who has a spinal cord injury. Neuralink’s working well in monkeys, and we’re actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it’s very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely.”
However, Musk has a history of overpromising about the speed of the company’s development. In 2019 he predicted that the device would be implanted into a human skull in 2020. Musk said the device would be “implanted flush with skull & charges wirelessly, so you look and feel normal”.
He said people should think of the technology as similar to “replacing faulty/missing neurons with circuits”. “Progress will accelerate when we have devices in humans (hard to have nuanced conversations with monkeys) next year,” he said.
Neuralink has previously released a video of a monkey that had been implanted with the chip playing the video game Pong using only its mind.
The company, which counts Google’s parent company Alphabet among a series of well-known Silicon Valley backers, is also recruiting for a “clinical trial coordinator” to help build a team of people to run the trial and liaise with regulators. Applicants are told they have the “opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and the most talented experts from different fields”.
One big problem with floppy wires is they can be difficult to thread into the brain, and for this Neuralink has invented something entirely new. The probes would be inserted into the brain by a device not dissimilar to a sewing machine, which would use a stiff needle to poke the threads into place about 1 millimeter into the outer surface of the brain, or the cortex.
Hires said the idea of this sewing machine is a significant innovation. He has had to perform insertions of similar devices into the brains of mice by hand. “Doing this stuff by hand, these are very fine things … it’s very hard to have a steady enough hand to do these things manually,” he said
Specifically, Hires was impressed by a feature on the machine designed to counteract the fact that the human brain likes to jiggle around. “There’s breathing, the heartbeat, and those two factors can move the brain around a little bit,” said Hires.
The feature is called online motion correction and works by taking video of the brain’s blood vessels under a microscope and then using a robot to adjust the needle to move with those blood vessels.
Musk confirmed in a tweet on Tuesday that an updated version of the insertion machine will be shown at Friday’s demonstration. Previously Musk has said this machine could make implanting electrodes as easy as a LASIK eye surgery machine — although in his Tuesday tweet he said this was still a long way off.
Published By: JAINAM SHETH
Edited By : KRITIKA KASHYAP
