Neuroscientist José Carmena and electrical engineer Michel Maharbiz are heading up University of California, Berkeley’s research on a high tech implants. These are mere millimeter in size and are being proposed for implantable monitoring medical devices. Of course, the device could be employed towards any ends such as geolocation and just as with any such device, could be hacked.
In my short distopic sci fi story Short story: “I, DID (or, On the Splitting of the Pineal Gland)” I wrote that, “the components for nanodroids have been dispersed within any and all earth, water and air. At our whim, with a mere command, the components will come together within them and then, we will have them as well.” Well, this new invention (if it is new) is called “Neural Dust.”
Here are some excerpts from Wireless Recording in the Peripheral Nervous System with Ultrasonic Neural Dust by Dongjin Seo, Ryan M. Neely, Konlin Shen, Utkarsh Singhal, Elad Alon, Jan M. Rabaey, Jose M. Carmena (Neuron, Volume 91, Issue 3, pp. 529–539, August 3, 2016 AD).
The device performs the following functions:
•First in vivo electrophysiological recordings with neural dust motes •Passive, wireless, and battery-less EMG and ENG recording with mm-scale devices •Recorded signals transmitted via ultrasonic backscatter from implanted neural dust motes
•Ultrasound as a scalable means of providing wireless power and communication
Here are some statements from the summary:
Here, we demonstrate neural dust, a wireless and scalable ultrasonic backscatter system for powering and communicating with implanted bioelectronics. We show that ultrasound is effective at delivering power to mm-scale devices in tissue; likewise, passive, battery-less communication using backscatter enables high-fidelity transmission of electromyogram (EMG) and electroneurogram (ENG) signals from anesthetized rats. These results highlight the potential for an ultrasound-based neural interface system for advancing future bioelectronics-based therapies.
“Prototype wireless battery-less ‘neural dust’ mote (3 x 1 x 1 millimeters) with electrodes attached to a nerve fiber in a rat. The mote contains a piezoelectric crystal (silver cube) that converts ultrasonic signals to electrical current, powering a simple electronic circuit containing a transistor (black square) that responds to the voltage generated by a nerve firing and triggers the piezoelectric crystal to create ultrasonic backscatter, which indicates detection of a neural signal.
(photo credit: Ryan Neely/UC Berkeley)
It is also speculated that the Neural Dust could be employed towards manipulation of prosthetics by stimulating nerves and muscles directly.
In vivo experimental setup for a tether-less neural dust electromyography (EMG) recording from the gastrocnemius muscle in rats. The neural dust mote was placed on the exposed muscle surface, and the wound was closed with surgical suture. The ASIC chip switches between ultrasound transmit and receive modules. Triggered by the FPGA chip, the external transducer sends ultrasound (TX, green) to the mote. The backscatter received signal (RX, red) carries information about the EMG voltage that is decoded and recorded/displayed on a computer. The dust mote was pinged every 100 microseconds with six 540-nanosecond ultrasound pulses.
(credit: Dongjin Seo et al./Neuron)
Note that this research is supported by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s ( DARPA) Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx) project which seesk to “establish a new biomedical, therapeutic capability to improve physical and mental health by using targeted stimulation of the peripheral nervous system to exploit the body’s natural ability to quickly and effectively heal itself.”
Resources:
Engineers Develop “Neural Dust” That Will Replace Your Fitbit – Future iterations of neural dust could remain inside a person, unnoticed for decades, Inverse, August 15, 2016 AD
‘Neural dust’ brain implants could revolutionize brain-machine interfaces and allow large-scale data recording, Kurzweil A.I., July 17, 2013 AD
Ultrasonic wireless ‘neural dust’ sensors monitor nerves, muscles in real time – DARPA-funded “electroceutical” devices are designed to monitor and treat patients; may also enable wireless prosthetic control, Kurzweil A.I., August 5, 2016 AD
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