MUSK'S NEURALINK PLANS BRAIN READING THREADS

The threads are 4 to 6 um in width, which makes them considerably thinner than a human 

"A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain."  _ MR ELON MUSK, USA.

Neuralink, Tesla fame Mr Elon Musk's secretive company, said recently that it has developed new flexibile "threads" which are less likely to damage the brain than the materials currently used in brain-machine interfaces.

The company has been working on to develop brain-machine interfaces for quite sometime. The goal is to eventually begin implanting devices in paralyzed humans, allowing them to control phones or computers.

These threads also create the possibility of transferring a higher volume of data, according to a white paper credited to Mr Elon Musk and Neuralink.

The abstract notes that the system could include "as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads."

The threads are 4 to 6 um in width, which makes them considerably thinner than a human hair.  In addition to developing the threads, Neuralink's other big advance is a machine that automatically embeds them.

Mr Musk gave a big presentation of Neuralink's research recently, though he said that it was not simply for hype.  "The main reason for doing this presentation is recruiting," Mr Musk said, asking people to go apply to work there.

Mr Max Hodak, president of Neuralink, also came on stage and admitted that he was not originally sure "this technology was a good idea," but that Mr Musk convinced him it would be possible.

In the future, scientists from Neuralink hope to use a laser beam to get through the skull, rather than drilling holes, they said in interviews with "The New York Times", USA recently.  Early experiments will be done with neuroscientists at Stanford University, according to that report.  "We hope to have this in a human patient by the end of next year," Mr Musk said.

During Question & Answer at the end of the presentation, Mr Musk revealed results that the rest of the team had not realized he would : "A monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain."

"It is not going to be suddenly Neuralink will have this neural lace and start taking over people's brains," Mr Musk further said.  "Ultimately" he wants "to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence."

And that even in a "benign scenario," humans would be "left behind."  Hence he wants to create technology that allows a "merging with AI."  He later added "we are a brain in a vat, and that vat is our skull," and so the goal is to read neural spikes from that brain.

The first paralyzed person to receive a brain implant that allowed him to control a computer cursor was Mr Matthew Nagle.  In 2006, Mr Nagle, who had a spinal cord injury, played Pong using only his mind; the basic movement required took  him only four days to master, he recently told "The New York Times", USA.

Since then, paralized people with brain implants have also bright objects into focus and move robotic arms in labs, as part of scientific research.

The system Mr Nagle and others have used is called BrainGate, and was developed initially at Brown University.

"Neuralin did not com  come out of nowhwere, there is a long history of academic research here," Mr Hodak said at the presentation recently.  "We are, in the greatest sense, building on the shoulders of glants."  However, none of the existing technologies fit Neuralink's goal of directly reading neural spikes in a minimally invasive way.

The system presented, if it is functional, may be a substantial advance over older technology.  BrainGate relied on the Utah Array, a series of stiff needles that allows for up to 128 electrode channels. Not only is that fewer channels than Neuralinks' technology is more difficult to implant than the Utah Array, precisely because it is so flexible.  To combat that problem, the company has developed " a neurosurgical robot capable of inserting six threads (192 electrodes) per minute automatically," according to the white paper.  In photos, it looks something like a cross between a microscope and a sewing machine.  It also avoids blood vessels, which may lead to less of an inflammatory response in the brain, the paper says.