Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicosIslands, February 14, 2024 – The Elon Musk-Founded medical startup, Neuralink, has successfully implanted their chip into a human brain for the first time according to its founder.
“The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” said Musk via X on January 29th.
Reactions on the post ranged from excitement at the scientific advancement to fear at the possible side effects.
Despite the buzz no official certification of the claims has been done and the Neuralink website has yet to confirm this.
The website does say Nueralink’s mission is to “create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.”
What that means is that the company has created a chip that they hope will be able to decode and send brain signals to computers and other devices for now.
In the future they hope to expand the project automations in the body, allowing paralyzed patients to move those automations with just their thoughts, returning movement, vision and speech where it was thought impossible.
Returning movement to paralyzed limbs or even enhancing them has been the stuff of movies for decades, attributed to fictional giants like Derek Shepherd and explored in far off futuristic shows like Cyberpunk. In that sphere neuralink is actually behind.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Switzerland has already made it possible for three patients to walk according to a Nature Medicine Journal research paper. That was, however, achieved with much more extensive surgery and more implants.
Other companies that have started human trials include the giant of the brain computer interface group Blackrock Neurotech, which have been carrying out clinical trials for over a decade and is due to launch a commercial product, Synchron which uses blood vessels to connect to the brain, and others.
Neuralink is hoping to do this as well.
The current brain implant is described as cosmetic and invisible and will let the user control a computer or mobile device from anywhere.
With tiny threads, it collects neural activity going on in the brain and is inserted by a surgical robot. The company says it needs a robot, because the threads are so fine they cannot be inserted by a human hand.
The first implantation was done under the PRIME study, which is the first clinical trial under the company and aims to find the safest ways to complete the implantation process.
The company is currently recruiting qualifying individuals for human trials.
