"Neural dust"
Tiny wireless implants Work like electronic medicines for the brain
Alexandra Goncharik, Geektimes
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are developing "neural dust" – tiny wireless sensors for implantation into the brain, muscles and intestines, which in the future can be used to control prostheses or as "electro-medicines" for the treatment of epilepsy or stimulation of the immune system. Scientists have already tested a three-millimeter version of the sensors on rats.
"I think in the long term, neural dust will be used not only inside the nerves and brain, but much more widely," says researcher Michel Maharbiz. – It has never been possible to carry out tele-measurements inside the body, because before there was no way to put something miniature very deep. But now I can take a microscopic particle and place it on a nerve or organ, your gastrointestinal tract or muscle, and then read the data."
Maharbiz and neuroengineer Jose Carmena, together with colleagues, published the latest results of their research on "Wireless recording in the peripheral nervous system using ultrasonic "neural dust"" in the journal Neuron.
From an article by the University of California at Berkeley, "Spraying "neural dust" opens the door for electronic medicines":
Although experiments have previously affected the peripheral nervous system and muscles, with the same effect, "neural dust" can work in the central nervous system and brain, allowing you to control prostheses. Modern implantable electrodes fail within one to two years, and they are all connected to wires through holes in the skull. Wireless sensors – from tens to hundreds – can be hermetically hidden inside the body, eliminating the occurrence of infections or unwanted movement of the electrodes.
"The initial goal of the Neural Dust project is to introduce the next generation of brain–computer interfaces and obtain a viable clinical technology," said Ryan Neely, a graduate student in neuroscience. "If a paralyzed person wants to control a computer or a robotic arm, you can simply implant this electrode into his brain, and it would remain there for the rest of his life."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 25.08.2016