You can’t get very far in a science fiction film catalogue without seeing the mention of a neural implant. In truth, one need not look too far in the real world either.
Indeed, the medical world has had implanted brain devices for a while, but a new type of technology – brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) – is creating a very different avenue of neuronal exploration.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is perhaps the most famous company trialling the technology. The businessman recently announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the first human had successfully been implanted with the chip. The first product from the company will aptly be called ‘Telepathy’.
But Neuralink is by no means the only company spearheading this new frontier of neural communication and it will not be the only company to face challenges rolling out the tech either.
Clinical landscape
BCIs, also called brain-machine interfaces, are chips implanted in brain tissue that take brain signals and translate them into commands. The measured signals, which can be described as ‘thoughts’, are relayed to a secondary, external device which then carries out a specific function. At the moment, the main application is in the neuromuscular field – helping paralysed patients move muscles.