Cyberpunk is just around the corner, and Elon Musk's Neuralink has good reason to be worried.
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The chip shown in the video was developed by a company called Science, founded by the former president of Neuralink — Elon Musk's brain-chip company.
Unlike Neuralink, whose brain implants rely on polymer-based electrodes embedded in the brain, the new implants are based on biological neurons.
Neuralink's implants carry real risks.
First, they are foreign artificial objects that the recipient's body may reject. On top of that, even microscopic movement of the electrodes can cause serious problems.
The new implants are based on neurons grown in a lab from the patient's own stem cells.
Because they are biological and derived from the patient's own cells, they integrate with the brain's existing neurons and reduce the risk of rejection by the immune system.
In addition, these neurons offer lower power consumption and higher connection quality compared to electrodes.
The neurons synchronize with an electronic chip and are controlled by short pulses of light.
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Initial experiments in rats yielded promising results, with researchers successfully controlling the rats' behavior using the chip.
Beyond the hope of restoring mobility to people living with disabilities or paralysis, technologies like these may one day be used to create "superhumans" — people whose abilities are actively enhanced by such chips.
It will be interesting.