A few hours ago, the billionaire Elon Musk showcased their new development in brain-computers through a webcast to the whole world. Elon Musk’s neuroscience startup Neuralink on Friday unveiled a pig which was the part of the experiment. The animal had the coin-sized computer chip in his brain for nearly two months, with the goal to cure many human diseases using the same method. The brain chip that was implanted in the brain of the pig had thousands of electrodes to help cure neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, and spinal cord injuries and finally stepped towards fusing humankind with artificial intelligence.
The billionaire confirmed that the same method can be used to cure major neurological problems like memory loss, hearing problems, depression, and insomnia. It can also be a great advantage for people who have been paralyzed due to spinal injuries, where the nerves connected from the spine to the brain are not responding. The Neuralink sensor will be almost eight millimeters in size, which will be connected to the brain. The chip will have many smaller wires that are flexible threads that are thinner than hair and are planted in a certain area of the brain using a robot for accuracy. These wires are planted in the brain area responsible for motor and sensory functions and are completely removable.
Neuralikn assures that it will be tested on human brains by the end of the year. The chip can be used to treat even Parkinson’s disease by electronically stimulating nerves and the brain. The technology could be great in the field of medicine and could help cure a lot of neurological issues as well. Apart from that, a few humans have shown a response to the treatment by doing smaller activities like moving a mouse or small objects, etc. But the larger scale of the method still needs to be tested more.