Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 1st that Chinese researchers are conducting research by implanting a wireless computer device into the human brain.
According to reports, researchers at Tsinghua University in China recently developed ‘Neural Electronic Opportunity (NEO),’ a ‘wireless Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) implant’ through the company’s website and WeChat account, and used it on the first patient. It was announced that ‘significant progress’ had been made.
This announcement by Chinese researchers came after Neuralink, a neuroscience startup owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, said it had begun clinical trials to implant a computer chip into the human brain.
On October 24 last year, researchers at Tsinghua University announced that they had implanted NEO into a patient who had become paralyzed in a car accident 14 years ago, and that the patient was able to make hand movements after three months of rehabilitation treatment. She also added that she achieved this feat without risking damage to nerve cells.
Tsinghua University researchers said, “BCI implants have the ability to support communication and active rehabilitation of severely disabled people.” A BCI implant is a device that creates a direct communication path between electrical activity within the brain and an external device, such as a computer.
The researchers also predicted that this could be helpful to patients with diseases such as spinal cord injury and epilepsy.
The researchers explained that NEO was less invasive than the needle developed by Neuralink and achieved this result without damaging neurons. Unlike Neuralink’s chip, which is implanted directly into brain tissue, NEO is designed so that a chip the size of two coins can be mounted on the skull.
“For BCI implants to be sustainable, invasiveness must be minimized,” the researchers said. “NEO’s system validates a new approach that balances BCI performance and invasiveness within the skull.”
(Beijing = News 1)
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.