Elon Musk’s Neuralink

[Archibald]

‘Self-mutilation’: Horrifying fate of Elon Musk’s brain implant monkey test subjects

laying at the foot of her cage so she could hold hands with another primate on the other side of the bars.

Was it Batch 89 ? (Guardian of the Galaxy 3 intensifies)

 

[martinbayer]

For stuff like that, Musk should man up (since he likes to project a [nerdy] tough guy image anyway) and be test subject number one, if he *truly* believes in the technology. If not, well...

 

[edwest4]

Martin,

A lot of people have signed up for experimental things. As long as they are fully informed and all the paperwork is in order. A friend of mine decided to try an experimental medication and it worked for him. I think Mr. Musk is able to do certain things because he has a lot of money. I don't know if he has much imagination or technical skill.

 

[Archibald]

As we say in french "charité bien ordonnée, commence par soi même" (any charity effort starts with oneself). Maybe Musk could invent an anti- alt-right cure, and apply it to himself ? what a relief that would be for that troubled world...
Imagine such colossal fascist SOB as Bolsonaro turned into a left-wing progressist groupie...

 

[publiusr]

Implants have a place

US patient 'happy again' after brain implant treats epilepsy and OCD

American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

medicalxpress.com

 

[DWG]

Implants have a place

There's a bunch of conditions that can be treated using different kinds of implants into the brain - deep brain implants for epilepsy, cochlear implants for severe hearing loss, we've been putting shunts into babies' brains to treat hydrocephalus for probably more than 50 years at this point. Musk is just pushing the envelope, as usual.

The closest analogies to Musk's implant are probably the cochlear implant and some of the experimental artificial vision stuff, but they're putting signals into the brain, there's nothing that extracts useful information.

What comes close is some of the research using fMRI or electroencephelograms to pick up gross brain concepts from outside the skull, but Musk needs to significantly level up from that for Neuralink to be seen as a success.

The reports seem to be that he's looking at people with quadriplegia as a result of ALS* or spinal injury as his test subjects. IMO that suggests he's significantly backed off from what he expects to achieve. The only way they're getting someone walking with the current setup is on the level of sending gross instructions to a powered exoskeleton: stand-up, walk forward, sit down, and without a complete sensory feedback loop , that's already been done without the need for a brain implant.

* I think there's an ethical issue in recruiting people with ALS, it's such a fast progressing condition I'm not sure people are really in a healthy position to give informed consent, and how do you allow for the progress of the condition when measuring the success of the implant.

 

[edwest4]

First Neuralink Patient Alarmed as Device Starts Glitching

In a new Bloomberg interview, Neuralink's first human patient recalled the time the brain-computer chip started glitching.

futurism.com

 

[publiusr]

Some good news in related fronts

Brain implant in conjunction with AI app allows nearly mute man to speak in two languages

A team of neurosurgeons and AI specialists at the University of California, San Francisco, has found some success in restoring speech to a patient who lost the ability after a stroke.

medicalxpress.com

New device helps paraplegics regain partial use of hands

More than 40 people suffering from paralysis from the neck down regained partial control of their arms and hands thanks to a relatively simple to use device, a large study said Monday.

medicalxpress.com

Study suggests optogenetics can drive muscle contraction with greater control, less fatigue than electrical stimulation

For people with paralysis or amputation, neuroprosthetic systems that artificially stimulate muscle contraction with electrical current can help them regain limb function. However, despite many years of research, this type of prosthesis is not widely used because it leads to rapid muscle fatigue...

medicalxpress.com

Adhesive hydrogel coating prevents scarring around medical implants, prolongs lifespan of such devices

When medical devices such as pacemakers are implanted in the body, they usually provoke an immune response that leads to buildup of scar tissue around the implant. This scarring, known as fibrosis, can interfere with the devices' function and may require them to be removed.

medicalxpress.com

Star trek med

Promising results of helium plasma jet therapy: Ruptured Achilles tendon shows faster repair

What is the largest ligament in the human body? It might surprise some people that it is the Achilles tendon. Even though it is also considered the toughest ligament, the Achilles tendon can rupture, with many such injuries involving sports enthusiasts in their 30s or 40s. Surgery might be...

medicalxpress.com

New CRISPR screening method could reveal what drives brain diseases

The brain is often referred to as a "black box"—one that's difficult to peer inside and determine what's happening at any given moment. This is part of the reason why it's difficult to understand the complex interplay of molecules, cells and genes that underlie neurological disorders. But a new...

medicalxpress.com

Improved ultrasound wireless charging for implantable biomedical devices

Ultrasound-based wireless power transfer is becoming a more attractive option to power implanted biomedical devices because it could overcome many of the limitations and challenges facing other wireless charging approaches. Now, a new study has shown that the shape of the implanted receiver can...

phys.org

New technique enables successful cultivation of stem cells on the surface of ionic liquids

The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has established a technique for cultivating human mesenchymal stem cells, widely used in regenerative medicine, on the surface of an ionic liquid.

phys.org