Controlling electronic devices using the mind seems like a work of science fiction. A team of engineers believes we are one step closer to turning it into reality as they design an implant that can detect and communicate brain signals with electronic devices.
Electrical Activities of the Brain
The brain cells use rapid electrical impulses, which underlie our behavior, thoughts, and perception of the world. Although brain cells are not good conductors of electricity, they generate electrical signals based on the flow of ions across their plasma membranes.
The movement of ions carries an electrical wave along the length of a nerve cell called a neuron. Each neuron has local branches that receive signals, known as dendrites, and a more extended projection that sends signals called axons. The end of each axon contains a special communication junction known as a synapse, which works by releasing chemical signals called neurotransmitters. The electrical signals travel from one neuron to another, creating a new electrical wave in that cell.
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Futuristic Brain Probe
For the past eight years, experts at Purdue University have been working in electric field communication around the human body. They have pioneered technologies such as electro-quasistatic human body communication (EQS-HBC), which is currently being commercialized.
Such technologies have the potential to advance human capabilities and medical practices. When combined with advancements in deep-brain power transfer, these technologies can provide fundamental insights into neurological disorders.
Led by principal investigator Shreyas Sen, scientists made a brain implant that can sense and transmit data to a pair of headphones. The implant smaller than a dime is created using a two-step process called biphasic quasistatic brain communication, which unfolds in the brain slowly. Unlike the currently existing brain chips, this implant does not need to be connected to a computer or any other device.
Sen and his colleagues discovered that digital information can be sent through the tissue using different techniques similar to the communication of body-generated electrocardiogram (ECG) signals through the body through this technology. Similar studies required many trials connecting neural signals to an external device, like over-the-ear headphones. This research has become the pioneer in revealing high-bandwidth wireless communication with the implants.
To insert the device, the doctors peeled off the skin over the skull and conducted a bilateral craniotomy, a surgical procedure where a part of the bone was removed from the skull to expose the brain. Surgeons then thinned down the midline skull to improve connection with the implant, which is untethered to the brain.
As the body generates tiny electrical signals, it innately supports internal communications, forming a broadband channel across the body. The brainternet interface enables high bandwidth interactions between the neurological signals and computers. This invention allows the human brain to get its broadband, according to Sen.
Once the team's electric-field-based communication technology was mature around the body, it led them to conduct this investigation since it is also applicable inside the brain for high bandwidth ultra-low power implant-to-computer communication. The research is currently just an outline and will need further studies to confirm brain implants' potential and compatibility with existing neural devices.
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