The bet365体育赛事 Behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip
Released on 03/08/2022
[Narrator] Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain chip company,
recently pushed back on claims
that it violated animal welfare laws a few years ago
while testing on monkeys.
This year, the company plans to test on human subjects.
But when it does,
what would this major step mean for brain implant science?
Academics like me have conducted clinical trials
in people with brain implants.
[Narrator] Dr. Paul Nuyujukian
is a professor of bioengineering and neurosurgery.
He directs the Brain Interfacing Laboratory at Stanford.
For about 20 years now,
academic research brain implants, up until this point,
more or less have almost exclusively been with wires.
The difference that the N1 has with Neuralink,
it's fully implantable, it is battery-powered,
it is wireless.
All of this is being done over Bluetooth protocol.
[Narrator] Let's dive into the science behind Neuralink
to understand how exactly human brain chips work.
[electronic music]
The science behind how these implants work
is not that different from how
you would go about trying to measure
the energy from a AA battery.
It's the same principle that we're doing
with these brain implants.
This is called neuro electrophysiological recording.
When you move your arm to the right,
certain sets of neurons are activated in a certain pattern.
Listening in to that activity and that pattern,
you can predict very quickly
which direction the arm is going to move.
These are the neurons that are directly wired
to your muscle.
[Narrator] Unless that pathway
from the brain to the spinal cord to the muscle is damaged,
the way it is in patients with paralysis.
That pathway is damaged, then the neuro signals,
their signals from their brain,
aren't gonna get down to move the muscles.
But in many cases,
the signals are still present in the brain.
They're just not getting out.
So, if you reach in and put something that listens in
to those neurons,
then you know what's happening to the muscle
[Narrator] And that's the goal of a brain implant.
Now, let's look at a timeline
of brain interface breakthroughs over the years.
Scholars have long been interested in how the brain works.
So, it's important to view these new developments
at Neuralink as a culmination of breakthroughs
by brain machine interface researchers,
especially in the last few decades.
For example, in 2002, the first demonstration
of real-time cursor control in monkeys took place.
2008, a monkey controlling a robotic arm
in three dimensions fed itself.
2012, the first brain-controlled robotic arm by a human.
2017, a human controlled a cursor mentally
to type out words and sentences.
Dr. Nuyujukian was part of the study,
as well as the one in 2018,
where a human subject mentally controlled a tablet
to do things like browse the web, send emails,
and play games or music.
All that's been done with a couple hundred electrodes.
[Narrator] But in 2019, Neuralink, a private company,
changed the game when it unveiled a pig named Gertrude
with a wireless implant that monitored
about a thousand neurons.
The neurons are like wiring.
And you kind of need an electronic thing
to solve an electronic problem.
That was a very interesting moment
because it signaled to the community
that they're serious, they're investing,
they're building hardware from scratch,
and they're putting it in large animals.
For the pig, the electrodes were implanted
in somatosensory cortex,
allowing them to measure sensory activity,
like that of taking a step.
Every time that that particular neuron
they were listening to fired,
you would hear this little pop or click
from the audio channel.
And so, the moment I heard it, right,
it's like, oh yeah, they got neurons.
You just recognize it instantly.
You know what neurons sound like
if you've been listening to them for decades.
And that's what they were communicating, right?
They were telling the field,
We've got neurons, pay attention.
[Narrator] And overnight,
it seemed the industry took notice.
Then in April of 2021,
Neuralink released the so-called mind Pong video.
Pager was the name.
It's a rhesus macaque, which is the type of monkey
that is very commonly used in this field.
Implanted with two of the N1 devices, the Neuralink devices,
performing brain control of a cursor on a screen.
That's extremely significant because here,
Neuralink is showing their new hardware,
their new device in their hands works in a monkey.
That's the level that's necessary
to convince the scientific community,
to convince the FDA,
that you're ready to go into human clinical trials.
That's the evidence the FDA is looking for.
[Narrator] The recording power of the N1 device in Pager
was eyeopening because of the sheer number
of individual electrodes that had been implanted.
There was definitely a lot of clever engineering
that went into that,
to build a device that can transmit 2,048 electrodes-worth
of spiking information, right,
of digital ones and zeros of spikes,
over a radio wirelessly.
And when you have that many channels,
the performance that you should be able to get
should eclipse what we've been able to do
in the academic field.
The maximum number of electrodes I've ever recorded from
is 200 to 300.
[Narrator] So, with all those electrodes,
how does a device like the N1 get implanted
in a subject's brain?
Make no mistake, this is neurosurgery.
It is not a joke.
This requires cutting the skin, getting down to skull,
drilling a hole in the skull.
Exposing what's called the dura,
which is this protective layer of tissue
that surrounds the brain.
Cutting the dura, folding it back to expose the brain.
And then, you get to the surface of the brain,
where you can implant the electrodes.
The biggest risks with these types of techniques
are infection, bleeding, and tissue damage.
[Narrator] So, what would it take for the FDA to approve
clinical trials in humans?
The Neuralink device
are called Class III medical devices.
They are implantable,
and they're going into very sensitive body cavities.
That is the highest level of scrutiny
that the FDA assigns to medical devices.
They don't have a predecessor.
There's no previous example that's approved.
And so, very appropriately, they got a high bar
they have to cross in order to get it approved.
So, what Neuralink has to do next
is prepare a very long and technical document
with all of the evidence from animal studies
that their device is safe and effective.
This document is submitted to the FDA,
who has 90 days to review and give them an answer.
If the FDA says yes, then their clinical trial is approved,
and Neuralink can enroll and recruit human participants.
We are on the cusp of a complete paradigm shift.
This type of technology has the potential
to transform our treatments,
not just for stroke, and paralysis,
and degenerative disease, motor degenerative diseases,
but also for pretty much every other type of brain disease,
from Parkinson's to epilepsy, to dementias, Alzheimer's,
and even psychiatric disease.
Seeing Neuralink and the other companies in this space
start an industry around neuroengineering
brain machine interfaces, neuro prosthetics,
has been a tremendous amount of validation
for neuroscientists and engineers
who've been working in this space for decades.
How much happier could the scientific community be
than to give birth to an industry?
[Narrator] So, will this industry someday lead
to the creation of cyborg humans
with superhuman intelligence?
There's all sorts of wild speculation in our field.
I think science fiction is wonderful
at telling very creative and captivating stories
about all sorts of things,
including brain machine interfaces.
The reality is we are in such early stages of this space,
right, where we are just barely able to record
from neurons that control muscles
and try to interpret something,
glean meaningful information out of that.
We're gonna be in that space for decades.
That's where I will focus much of my career,
is understanding what's going on with these neurons,
and the circuits that they are working on.
That's where the last 15 years of my work has been.
And the coming several decades of my work
will focus in on this space
because that's gonna be the forefront of neuroscience.
The rest, I think, is fun to think about,
but I don't see how that's going to be
in the foreseeable future.
[electronic music]
How the Disco Clam Uses Light to Fight Super-Strong Predators
Architect Explains How Homes Could be 3D Printed on Mars and Earth
Scientist Explains How Rare Genetics Allow Some to Sleep Only 4 Hours a Night
Scientist Explains Unsinkable Metal That Could Prevent Disasters at Sea
Is Invisibility Possible? An Inventor and a Physicist Explain
Scientist Explains Why Her Lab Taught Rats to Drive Tiny Cars
Mycologist Explains How a Slime Mold Can Solve Mazes
How the Two-Hour Marathon Limit Was Broken
Research Suggests Cats Like Their Owners as Much as Dogs
Researcher Explains Deepfake Videos
Scientist Explains How to Study the Metabolism of Ultra High Flying Geese
Hurricane Hunter Explains How They Track and Predict Hurricanes
Scientist Explains Viral Fish Cannon Video
A Biohacker Explains Why He Turned His Leg Into a Hotspot
Scientist Explains What Water Pooling in Kilauea's Volcanic Crater Means
Bill Nye Explains the bet365体育赛事 Behind Solar Sailing
Vision Scientist Explains Why These Praying Mantises Are Wearing 3D Glasses
Why Some Cities Are Banning Facial Recognition Technology
Scientist's Map Explains Climate Change
Scientist Explains How Moon Mining Would Work
Scientist Explains How She Captured Rare Footage of a Giant Squid
Doctor Explains How Sunscreen Affects Your Body
Stranger Things is Getting a New Mall! But Today Malls Are Dying. What Happened?
The Limits of Human Endurance Might Be Our Guts
Meet the First College Students to Launch a Rocket Into Space
Scientist Explains Why Dogs Can Smell Better Than Robots
A Harvard Professor Explains What the Avengers Can Teach Us About Philosophy
NASA Twin Study: How Space Changes Our Bodies
What the Black Hole Picture Means for Researchers
Scientist Explains How to Levitate Objects With Sound
Why Scientists and Artists Want The Blackest Substances on Earth
Biologist Explains How Drones Catching Whale "Snot" Helps Research
Researcher Explains Why Humans Can't Spot Real-Life Deepfake Masks
Doctor Explains What You Need to Know About The Coronavirus
VFX Artist Breaks Down This Year's Best Visual Effects Nominees
How Doctors on Earth Treated a Blood Clot in Space
Scientist Explains Why Some Cats Eat Human Corpses
Voting Expert Explains How Voting Technology Will Impact the 2020 Election
Doctor Explains What You Need to Know About Pandemics
ER Doctor Explains How They're Handling Covid-19
Why This Taste Map Is Wrong
Q&A: What's Next for the Coronavirus Pandemic?
Why Captive Tigers Can’t Be Reintroduced to the Wild
How Covid-19 Immunity Compares to Other Diseases
5 Mistakes to Avoid as We Try to Stop Covid-19
How This Emergency Ventilator Could Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive
Why NASA Made a Helicopter for Mars
Theoretical Physicist Breaks Down the Marvel Multiverse
Former NASA Astronaut Explains Jeff Bezos's Space Flight
Physics Student Breaks Down Gymnastics Physics
What Do Cities Look Like Under a Microscope?
Inside the Largest Bitcoin Mine in The U.S.
How Caffeine Has Fueled History
How Mushroom Time-Lapses Are Filmed
Why You’ll Fail the Milk Crate Challenge
Why Vegan Cheese Doesn't Melt
How 250 Cameras Filmed Neill Blomkamp's Demonic
How Meme Detectives Stop NFT Fraud
How Disney Designed a Robotic Spider-Man
How Online Conspiracy Groups Compare to Cults
Dune Costume Designers Break Down Dune’s Stillsuits
Korean Phrases You Missed in 'Squid Game'
Why Scientists Are Stress Testing Tardigrades
Every Prototype that Led to a Realistic Prosthetic Arm
Why the Toilet Needs an Upgrade
How Animals Are Evolving Because of Climate Change
How Stop-Motion Movies Are Animated at Aardman
Astronomer Explains How NASA Detects Asteroids
Are We Living In A Simulation?
Inside the Journey of a Shipping Container (And Why the Supply Chain Is So Backed Up)
The bet365体育赛事 of Slow Aging
How Nose Swabs Detect New Covid-19 Strains
Samsung S22 Ultra Explained in 3 Minutes
The bet365体育赛事 Behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip
Every Prototype to Make a Humanoid Robot
Chemist Breaks Down How At-Home Covid Tests Work
A Timeline of Russian Cyberattacks on Ukraine
VFX Artist Breaks Down Oscar-Nominated CGI
Why Smartphones Night Photos Are So Good Now
We Invented the Perfect WIRED Autocomplete Glue
How Everything Everywhere All at Once's Visual Effects Were Made
How Dogs Coevolved with Humans
How an Architect Redesigns NYC Streets
Viking Expert Breaks Down The Northman Weapons
J. Kenji López-Alt Breaks Down the bet365体育赛事 of Stir-Fry
How A.I. Is Changing Hollywood
How Trash Goes From Garbage Cans to Landfills
Veterinarian Explains How to Prevent Pet Separation Anxiety
The bet365体育赛事 Behind Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
How Scientists & Filmmakers Brought Prehistoric Planet's Dinosaurs to Life
All the Ways Google Gets Street View Images
How Public Cameras Recognize and Track You
How the Nuro Robotic Delivery Car Was Built
Biologist Explains the Unexpected Origins of Feathers in Fashion
Surgeons Break Down Separating Conjoined Twins
Former Air Force Pilot Breaks Down UFO Footage
Bug Expert Explains Why Cicadas Are So Loud
The Best of CES 2021
Health Expert Explains What You Need to Know About Quarantines
Scientist Explains How People Might Hibernate Like Bears
Could a Chernobyl Level Nuclear Disaster Happen in the US?
Neuroscientist Explains ASMR's Effects on the Brain & The Body
Why Top Scientists Are Pretending an Asteroid is Headed for Earth
Epidemiologist Answers Common Monkeypox Questions
Bill Nye Breaks Down Webb Telescope Space Images
How This Humanoid Robot Diver Was Designed
Every Trick a Pro GeoGuessr Player Uses to Win
How NASA Biologists Plan to Grow Plants on the Moon
How FIFA Graphics & Gameplay Are Evolving (1993 - 2023)
How a Vet Performs Dangerous Surgeries on Wild Animals
This Heart is Not Human
How Entomologists Use Insects to Solve Crimes
Former NASA Astronaut Breaks Down a Rocket Launch
Chess Pro Explains How to Spot Cheaters
Why Billionaires Are Actually Ruining the Economy
How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions for More Than a Week
The Biology Behind The Last of Us
English Teacher Grades Homework By ChatGPT
All the Ways a Cold Plunge Affects the Body
Spy Historian Debunks Chinese Spy Balloon Theories
A.I. Tries 20 Jobs | WIRED
Mathematician Breaks Down the Best Ways to Win the Lottery
Why Music Festivals Sound Better Than Ever
Pro Interpreters vs. AI Challenge: Who Translates Faster and Better?
Why The Average Human Couldn't Drive An F1 Car
Atomic Expert Explains "Oppenheimer" Bomb Scenes
Every 'Useless' Body Part Explained From Head to Toe
How Pilots and Scientists Are Thinking About the Future of Air Travel
How To Max Out At Every Fantasy Football Position (Ft. Matthew Berry)
All The Ways Mt. Everest Can Kill You
How Fat Bears Bulk Up To Hibernate (And Why We Love To See It)
Why Vintage Tech Is So Valuable To Collectors
8 Photos That Tell The History of Humans In Space
How Every Organ in Your Body Ages From Head to Toe
Why AI Chess Bots Are Virtually Unbeatable (ft. GothamChess)
How Mind-Controlled Bionic Arms Fuse To The Body
Historian Breaks Down Napoleon's Battle Tactics