Nicholas West
Activist Post
Neural Dust – “Smart Dust” – previously entered mainstream discussion via the 2016 Independentarticle: “Tiny implant could connect humans and machines like never before.” It
was implied to be a new technology that can wirelessly link a human
brain to a computer via the implantation of a device the size of a grain
of sand. This invention, however, is much older and was officially
supported by the National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Strategic Plan.
In 2013, I covered how researchers at Berkeley Engineering discussed
moving nanotechnology from environmental sensor applications toward
human applications such as brain-computer interfaces. Their paper
stated:
A network of tiny implantable sensors could function like an MRI
inside the brain, recording data on nearby neurons and transmitting it
back out. The smart dust particles would all contain an extremely small
CMOS sensor capable of measuring electrical activity in nearby neurons.
The researchers envision a piezoelectric material
backing the CMOS capable of generating electrical signals from
ultrasound waves. The process would also work in reverse, allowing the
dust to beam data back via high-frequency sound waves. The neural dust
would also be coated with polymer. (Source)
Now scientists believe that they have crossed a new threshold toward
making the concept of smart dust a reality that would offer a far wider
scope than originally envisioned. At the recent IEEE Conference,
researchers from Brown University, Qualcomm and the University of
California San Diego announced that they are the first to have achieved a
wireless transfer of information from an implanted neural device to an
external computer that interpreted the data received.
It allows bidirectional communication between the implants and an
external device with an uplink rate of 10 megabits per second and a
downlink rate of 1 Mb/s.
“We believe that we are the first group to realize wireless power
transfer and megabits per second communications” in a neural implant,
says Wing Ching (Vincent) Leung, technical director at the Qualcomm Institute Circuits Lab at UC San Diego.
Nurmikko calls the 0.25-square-millimeter implants “neurograins.” They
each consist of a chip capable of harvesting RF energy; that
chip powers an electrode that senses spikes of voltage from individual
neurons, as well as the wireless communications. An antenna set outside
of the skull provides the RF power, transmits to the implants, and
receives data from them.
Source: IEEE Spectrum
Researchers believe that the introduction of thousands of
“neurograins” will enable far more complex data collection and
transference than a single implant.
Read more
Comment: What could go wrong?
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MIT News
MIT researchers, working with scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have developed a new way to power and communicate with devices implanted deep within the human body. Such devices could be used to deliver drugs, monitor conditions inside the body, or treat disease by stimulating the brain with electricity or light.
The implants are powered by radio frequency waves, which can safely pass through human tissues. In tests in animals, the researchers showed that the waves can power devices located 10 centimeters deep in tissue, from a distance of 1 meter.
“Even though these tiny implantable devices have no batteries, we can now communicate with them from a distance outside the body. This opens up entirely new types of medical applications,” says Fadel Adib, an assistant professor in MIT’s Media Lab and a senior author of the paper, which will be presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM) conference in August.
Read more
Brain implants or other types of neural links, such as Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) between the brain, the internet, and the cloud, are quickly entering the realm of science rather than science fiction.
The Defense Advanced Research Agency is ready to run trials with closed-loop mood control chips linked to AI that can deliver an electrical impulse to regulate a soldier’s mood. In the private sector, Elon Musk has announced Neuralink — a neurotechnology venture that will not only focus on fighting diseases but also on augmenting humans so they can better compete with machines.
The technology is advancing in campuses and government-backed labs around the world, attracting serious funding from established technology players, technology institutes, and top universities. For instance, Professor Newton Howard of Oxford University has produced a functional neural implant prototype by combining some of the brightest minds at MIT, Oxford, and Georgetown, and the resources and technical know-how of Intel and Qualcomm.
All of this begs the question: Is the world ready for this kind of human enhancement, and is it a worthy idea to pursue in the first place? Well, I for one wouldn’t be standing in line waiting for my brain implant, as it would take away too much of what makes me who I am.
Jasper Hamill
The Sun
Billionaire pays for research into 'neural recording', a creepy-sounding technique which could change the lives of people suffering serious illnesses
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is funding the development of technology with the potential to read humans' minds.
The billionaire has just pledged to hand over £40 million to researchers working to combat deadly diseases.
This cash will be distributed by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, an organisation which aims to "enable doctors to cure, prevent or manage all diseases during our children's lifetime".
Some of the projects are likely to ring alarm bells among paranoid people who fear technological progress will come at the expense of human freedom.
One of the researchers who will receive funding is Dr. Rikky Muller, CEO and founder of a firm called Cortera.
She is working to develop "clinically viable and minimally invasive neural interfaces" designed to be used by people suffering severe disabilities.
[...]
One project funded by Zuck's research group involve the "monitoring and manipulation of neural circuits".
Read more
UC Berkeley researchers are developing "Neural Dust," tiny wireless sensors for implanting in the brain, muscles, and intestines that could someday be used to control prosthetics or a "electroceuticals" to treat epilepsy or fire up the immune system. So far, they've tested a 3 millimeter long version of the device in rats.
“I think the long-term prospects for neural dust are not only within nerves and the brain, but much broader,“ says researcher Michel Maharbiz. “Having access to in-body telemetry has never been possible because there has been no way to put something supertiny superdeep. But now I can take a speck of nothing and park it next to a nerve or organ, your GI tract or a muscle, and read out the data."
Maharbiz, neuroengineer Jose Carmena, and their colleagues published their latest results on "Wireless Recording in the Peripheral Nervous System with Ultrasonic Neural Dust" in the journal Neuron.
Comment: And the wider applications?
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MIT
Medical implants like pacemakers, deep brain stimulators, and
cochlear implants could someday be joined by still more bioelectronic
gadgets—devices that regulate insulin levels, control appetite, lower
blood sugar, or treat brain injuries (see “Nerve-Stimulating Implant Could Lower Blood Pressure”).
But before we’re all riddled with electronics, researchers have to
figure out how to power it all. Pacemaker batteries are too clunky for
tiny devices saddled up to nerves, and existing wireless methods, such
as those used for cochlear implants, won’t work with devices buried deep
in the body.
That’s where electrical engineer Ada Poon
and her team at Stanford University say they might be able to help. The
group has developed a new method of sending magnetic fields well below
skin level to power devices that would otherwise need batteries.
Wireless systems like the one used in cochlear implants sit
permanently on the skin and derive power from electromagnetic induction,
in which a current running through a coil of wire generates a magnetic
field that then induces a current in a nearby device. The problem is
that a field generated this way decays exponentially with distance from
the generating coil, so it only works with devices close to the skin’s
surface.
Poon and her team found a way to use electromagnetic induction
through biological tissue without that exponential decay. They call the
technique midfield wireless powering (as opposed to near-field, which
refers to the exponentially decaying radiation, and far-field, which
refers to the kind of radiation emitted from a cell tower).
Read more
