The future is here? The machine and crisis of the brain-computer interface

In science fiction movies, there are often scenes where disabled people can play and sing freely with mechanical arms, and humans rely on their minds to direct huge machines... In fact, these magical scenarios are based on a technology - Brain Computer Interface (BCI).

Elon Musk said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in early December 2021 that he hopes to use the microchip device of brain-computer interface technology company Neuralink on humans next year. Approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently awaiting. Neuralink, co-founded by Musk in 2016, is developing a microchip that implants the human brain to record and stimulate brain activity and will be used in the medical field. Musk claims the chip will be used to treat spinal cord injuries, brain diseases such as Parkinson's and neurological disorders.

Monkeys play a game of simulated table tennis with their minds

On August 29, 2020, Musk demonstrated neuralink, a "brain-computer interface" technology, on live pigs. The device enables accurate prediction of pig behavior trajectories.

On April 9, 2021, Neuralink shows monkeys playing the simulated table tennis game "Pong" with their minds. This monkey successfully implanted a brain-computer interface in the brain, and the racket is controlled through brain waves. Devices in the brain record information about neuronal firings as the monkey plays a game, learning to predict the actions it will make.

"Neuralink works well on monkeys, and we actually did a lot of testing just to make sure it's very safe and reliable, and we can safely remove the Neuralink device," Musk said.

This year it is expected to be applied to humans

"We hope to apply the Neuralink device to the first humans this year, those with severe spinal cord injuries such as quadriplegia." Musk added, "I think there's an opportunity to get people who can't walk or can't use their arms get back into action again." According to Musk, Neuralink's "standards for implanted devices are much higher than the FDA's requirements." People with Neuralink brain chips can use their brains to give instructions to computers.

Musk has repeatedly reiterated that Neuralink's brain chip is tailored for paralyzed patients. At the same time, it also allows humans to "expand" their abilities.

Musk reiterated on his Twitter timeline for Neuralink products in 2022. "Next year, when we install equipment on the human body, the progress will accelerate," he said.

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It is being applied to more fields And the development prospects are promising

Scientists actively explore the implementation and application of brain-computer interface technology, and the medical field will be the main use of brain-computer interface technology, such as the use of brain-computer interface technology to enable disabled patients to carry out activities through the control of mechanical arms.

In addition to the medical field, brain-computer interface technology is currently widely used in aerospace, education, entertainment and other fields. For example, in the aerospace field, brain-computer interface technology can help astronauts use their brains to better control mechanical equipment and perform tasks in special environments. In the future, brain-computer interface technology will be applied to more fields, and the development prospects are worth looking forward to! At present, in the medical field, There is no shortage of successful application cases in China.

New breakthrough in brain-computer interface applications! The Zhejiang University team developed a brain "anti-missile system" to inhibit epilepsy

"In the past, there were more than 20 episodes per month, and this month I only had one seizure during a comparative study of system shutdown." On April 19, 2021, the first epilepsy patient to undergo the first closed-loop neurostimulator implant surgery independently developed in China was discharged from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine.

Zhang Jianmin, one of the leaders of the clinical translational research team of the brain-computer interface of Zhejiang University and a professor of neurosurgery at the Second Hospital of Zhejiang University, introduced that after a month of close follow-up observation, the comprehensive analysis of various EEG data and clinical effects was satisfactory, and it was an important breakthrough in the clinical translational research of brain-computer interface in the field of refractory epilepsy diagnosis and treatment in China.

Zhang Jianmin said that compared with traditional epilepsy focal resection surgery, this closed-loop neurostimulator implant greatly reduces the injury of craniotomy, and also makes up for the clinical treatment gap such as bilateral hippocampal sclerosis that cannot be removed by traditional surgery. Compared with other neuromodulation treatment techniques such as vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation, it has the advantages of on-demand precision stimulation, closed-loop regulation and automatic early warning.

"It's like installing an 'anti-missile system' in the patient's brain, which can monitor the patient's brain electrical activity in real time, and automatically identify the characteristic EEG of epilepsy and other diseases, 'alarm' before or just after the onset of the disease, and automatically activate the pulse generator to give precise electrical stimulation, thereby inhibiting the epileptic abnormal brain EEG." Zhu Junming, director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Second Hospital of Zhejiang University, said.

Compared with foreign related products, the closed-loop neurostimulator of the Zhejiang University team has greatly improved the service life of the product through the use of wireless rechargeable technology, and is smaller in size and lighter in weight.

Paraplegic bedridden for 6 years "brain-computer interface" allowed her to regain the ability to walk

The fall from a high altitude caused the lower limbs to be completely unconscious, paraplegic bedridden for 6 years, the patient Xiao Han and his family did not dare to imagine that they could get back up now... Recently, Xiao Han, a patient who has been bedridden and paralyzed for many years, can finally walk alone with the help of brain-computer interfaces.

When the patient Xiao Han was herding sheep in the mountains 6 years ago, he accidentally fell into a hole 9 meters deep, resulting in "complete spinal cord injury", completely unconscious lower limbs, and unable to take care of himself. Although traditional rehabilitation training has been carried out in primary medical institutions, it is still impossible to actively move the legs, and standing also needs to be barely completed with help.

She accidentally participated in the "Regain Walking Plan" of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, and through the "brain-computer interface" rehabilitation training of the system for half a year, she is now able to walk alone while wearing braces and using walkers.

How does the "brain-computer interface" work? Zhao Guoguang, president of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, said that the human brain can generate motor intentions, output to limbs in the form of electrical signals, and can also receive input from somatic sensory information. Once the information transmission function is impaired, the downstream output of the instruction and the upstream input of the sensory information are interrupted, resulting in a serious loss of function. "Brain-computer interface" technology is a direct connection created between the brain and external devices. Through this technology, signals of electrical nerve activity in the brain can be extracted and information feedback and interaction can be established with external devices.

Zhao Guoguang introduced that if the patient's injury occurs in the cerebral cortex, the missing function can be repaired by "rehabilitation training" to guide "brain function reorganization". Xiao Han's injury was the most serious "complete spinal cord injury" among spinal cord injuries. "The brains of these patients do not receive sensory input below the injury plane at all, and the movement commands cannot be sent to the muscles. This kind of injury is difficult to effectively achieve functional recovery below the injury level through traditional surgical means or rehabilitation medicine. Zhao Guoguang said that the complete set of brain-computer interface technology that regains the walking plan can help a large range of patients recover their walking ability, and will gradually help more patients recover in the future.

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There are safety and health risks and more ethical issues

In addition to the safety and health risks of "invasive" implants, there are many ethical and technical questions about brain-computer interface technology: If a chip could be installed in the brain, how many people would agree to install it? Can people accept "opening their heads, inserting chips" and trying to "tamper" with their nerve impulses?

Experts warn that brain-computer interfaces could expose humans to hacking

According to foreign media reports, a new report warns that brain-computer interface implants may make us vulnerable to hackers. Experts said in interviews that cybercriminals can use these brain-computer interfaces to erase your skills and read your thoughts or memories — an intrusion that has more consequences than any other system. To ensure the security of the technology, the system needs to "ensure that unauthorized people cannot modify its functionality." This could mean the need to employ means similar to smartphone security protocols, such as encryption and antivirus software.

Musk has been working on growing his startup Neural Connections since 2016. The billionaire claims that brain-computer interfaces will help treat injuries, depression and other afflictions.

However, the technology may be too rosy to be realistic. The researchers suggest a terrible condition that could happen. There are reports that the chip could provide a conduit for hackers to break into the thoughts or memories of political officials, military personnel and other thieves who themselves may also attempt to carry out digital attacks.

Such leaks will be more serious than all the data breaches we've ever seen. Sasitaran Barassubramanyam, head of research at Watford Polytechnic's Communication Software and Systems Group, said: "What kind of damage would [an attack] cause to the brain? Will it erase or disrupt your skills?"

He added: "What are the consequences – is it just to feed new information into the brain, or it will be so bad that it will damage the neurons, which in turn will cause the brain to start the rewiring process inside and then disrupt your thinking... This not only has an informational impact, but it can also harm the body. ”

◎Invasive brain-computer interface technology

Invasive brain-computer interfaces refer to the implantation of electrodes or chips in the brain.

The wires stick out from the head, and it's like a Fitbit motion recorder in your skull, with tiny wires sticking out into your brain.

There are hundreds of billions of neurons in the human brain, and by implanting electrodes, the firing activity of individual neurons can be accurately monitored. But this way will cause some damage to the brain, and the implantation of electrodes will not only damage the brain neurons, but also have the risk of infection.

After implanting electrodes in the brain, the surrounding glial cells will gradually wrap up the electrodes, and the electrodes will monitor less and less neuronal activity. After a few years or even months, the electrodes are completely unable to monitor neuronal activity, and if they need to be used again, they have to be re-implanted and experience the risk again.

◎Non-invasive brain-computer interface technology

● Non-invasive brain-computer interface refers to the head-mounted EEG cap, which mainly uses electrodes on the EEG cap to collect EEG signals from the scalp.

●This method can monitor the firing activity of population neurons on the scalp, the main disadvantage is that it is not precise enough.

●In addition, although the head-mounted EEG cap does not damage the brain, it is necessary to wash the hair first and then inject conductive glue into the electrodes of the EEG cap each time, which is very troublesome to operate.

Explanation of terms

Brain-computer interface

Refers to the direct connection created between the brain of a human or animal and an external device, thereby enabling the exchange of information between the brain and the device. When humans think, neurons in the cerebral cortex produce tiny electrical currents. When humans engage in different thinking activities, the neurons that are activated are also different. Brain-computer interface technology can directly extract these neural signals in the brain to control external devices, it will build a bridge between humans and machines, and ultimately promote communication between people, creating great value.

Coordinator: Liu Yaoning Integrated Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency Client CCTV