Human beings have made new progress in brain research! Recently, chen Tianqiao Luo Qianqian Research Institute has made a major breakthrough in brainwave research, and published relevant papers in the international top journal "Neuron".
Figure 丨 Related Papers (Source: Neurons)
In practice, functional ultrasound neuroimaging (fus) has many coping strategies for treatment, such as working with mri magnetic resonance imaging to achieve the purpose of accurately grasping the disease site and grasping the treatment status.
To study whether the fus technique was successful, the researchers conducted experiments with two rhesus monkeys, non-human primates. The research team implanted an ultrasonic transducer of about 4 to 5 cm² in the skull of the monkey, issued task instructions to the monkeys, and the monkeys would move their eyes, arms and other parts in the specified direction under specific prompts.
Figure | The researchers predicted the motor intent of monkeys using a series of ultrasound images of their brains (Source: sumner Norman)
To test the accuracy of fus, the researchers compared the brain imaging activity of fus with electrophysiological data, and with the support of the Chen Tianqiao Luo Qianqian Research Institute, tracked the changes in the monkey's brain activity through image changes, thereby decoding the monkeys' behavioral intentions.
Finally, the research team algorithmically processed fus imaging data and corresponding tasks through deep learning to understand the relationship between brain activity patterns and specified tasks.
In simple terms, the research team recorded brain activity through FUS with more than 70% accuracy. The advantage of functional ultrasound therapy is that this electrode has a resolution of 100 microns, a single neuron size of about 10 microns, and it uses an invasive brain-computer interface method, but it can do so without harming brain tissue.
Figure丨 Brain neurons (Source: pixabay)
In the treatment of brain disorders, traditional surgical treatments involve ultrasound penetrating the skull, requiring a drill in the patient's skull. Fus, the importance of this functional ultrasound technology is that only the patient needs to shave his head, no need to do craniotomy, so as to avoid surgical bleeding and the risk of infection.
This research will be helpful for the treatment of brain diseases such as stroke and paralysis, and will also provide a scientific basis for people to understand the mechanism of action of the brain nerve, study the regulation of the brain nerve, and brain-computer interface. However, before introducing the research progress of brain waves and brain-computer interfaces, it is necessary to introduce the Chen Tianqiao Luo Qianqian Research Institute.
The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (tcci), invested by former China's richest man Chen Tianqiao and his wife Luo Qianqian, aims to study the human brain to promote brain-related treatments, and the institute is set up at the California Institute of Technology in the United States.
Chen Tianqiao and his wife's research funds were also invested in the California Institute of Technology, after Chen Tianqiao invested a large amount of money to do research in the United States as China's richest man, which also caused heated discussion. But its answer is simple: "I only choose the person closest to the goal, who is most likely to score I choose." ”
Picture 丨 Chen Tianqiao Luo Qianqian and his wife (Source: tcci official website)
Chen Tianqiao, who once became China's richest man, asked himself many times: "What can I do for the development of mankind?" He was suffering from panic disorder at the time, and the onset of the illness in 2009 made Chen Tianqiao decide to drop everything and go to Singapore to recuperate, and did not appear until 2017.
After that, he once told the media about the reason for giving up the grand: "For two months, every night watching the sunset would have difficulty breathing, feeling that I would not wake up again, that I needed to write a will, that I had to leave, and that it was painful to die once in a lifetime. For two months, I died almost every night. ”
In Singapore, Chen Tianqiao had a lot of time to think about life, perhaps suffering from a sense of near-death, and he finally decided to study brain science. Before investing, he entrusted more than 20 books on brain science from Fudan University and carefully studied them for two years, thus building the foundation of his understanding of brain science.
After visiting harvard, Stanford and other well-known universities at home and abroad, he finally decided to build the institute at California Institute of Technology because the university has a long history of brain science research.
For brain science research, he once said: "The research focus on the brain-computer interface route is how to make the implanted chip more secure, more channels, and more accurate data." For patients, it should be mainly based on treatment, all the latest technology, all feasible means should be used, including craniotomy. ”
Figure丨 Brain waves, brain-computer interfaces and humanoid robots (Source: pixabay)
Leaving Shanda is inseparable from the encouragement of Chen Tianqiao's wife Luo Qianqian. How easy is it to get down from the top, leave the company you started, and climb another peak? His wife, Luo Qianqian, encouraged him: "Most people can only climb one peak in their lifetime, but you may be able to climb the second and third peaks." ”
Chen Tianqiao believes that brain science research is a field that can be studied for a lifetime, and he has also expressed his determination to study brain science by the public: "Founding Shanda, I thought about it for three days, and I thought about it for three years when I did it." It took us more than a decade to build Shanda, and for this thing, I can devote my life. ”
Previously, about every 10 years, scientists would say, "The next 10 years will be 10 years of brain science." In fact, there has been no substantial progress in brain science research. Breakthroughs in brain science research are strong expectations of the entire industry, for example, if AI wants to make real progress, it is impossible not to study the brain. It can be said that as long as the brain science research is further advanced, it will produce a step of joy.
Figure丨 Artificial intelligence and humanoid brain (Source: pixabay)
Previously, the research on brain waves of the institute has been reported by the domestic and foreign media. In order to interpret the significance of brainwave research from a deeper and more popular perspective, deeptech interviewed young scholars Of Brain-Computer Interface Who are struggling in the frontline, Xiao Yanan and Wu Dongrui.
At present, the public is no stranger to brain waves and brain-computer interfaces. For a simple definition of the brain-computer interface, Wu Dongrui, director of the Brain-Computer Interface and Machine Learning Laboratory of the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, believes that the brain-computer interface (bci) refers to the technology that realizes the information interaction and functional integration between the nervous system and external devices by establishing a direct connection channel between the human brain nerve and external devices such as computers and robots.
Brain-computer interaction is the ultimate means of human-computer interaction, which can help people with disabilities repair visual and auditory sensory and motor functions. Simply put, it is to realize the use of the mind to control the machine.
Figure | Components of brain-computer interface systems (Source: Respondents)
What are the applications of brain-computer interfaces in the therapeutic field?
First, the most significant application of brain-computer interfaces in the therapeutic field is the substitution effect. The output of the brain-computer interface system may replace the natural output lost due to injury or disease. For example, patients with severe movement disorders, such as patients with high paraplegia due to accidents, are important application objects for such brain-computer interface systems.
Second, the brain-computer interface has a restorative effect, and its output can restore the lost function. For example, stroke patients who lose limb control can also train the motor cortex of the patient's brain through brain-computer interface technology to help the patient recover.
Third, brain-computer interfaces can also be used for the treatment of neurological disorders. For example, motor dysfunction disorders such as Parkinson's disease, idiopathic tremor, and dystonia can regulate specific neural activity through brain-computer interfaces to restore the patient's ability to exercise.
Fourth, the application of brain-computer interfaces in healthy people is also very extensive. Wu Dongrui said, "Brain-computer interfaces can help healthy people achieve functional expansion. In the field of engineering psychology, the cognitive load, fatigue level and other states of special operations such as motor vehicle drivers, pilots, and aviation air traffic controllers are very important for operation performance and work safety. In the field of control, in addition to the manual control method, the brain control method can be added to achieve multimodal control. In the field of game entertainment, the brain-computer interface provides gamers with a new operational dimension independent of traditional game control methods, enriching the game connotation and improving the game experience. ”
Figure | Virtual reality technology (Source: pixabay)
Talking about the way of brain-computer interface, Xiao Yanan, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University, told deeptech: "Brain-computer interfaces are divided into invasive, non-invasive and micro-invasive (semi-invasive). Invasive brain-computer interfaces require surgical implantation of electrodes or chips in the central nervous system, which enables more accurate recording and regulation of cranial nerve activity. However, because of the risks of rejection and possible brain damage, invasive brain-computer interface systems are currently used more in animals, and related research is mostly limited to clinical special groups such as patients with nervous system injuries and diseases. ”
"Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces do not require surgery, directly from the skin surface to collect brain activity signals or perform neural regulation, this way can avoid brain damage and infection caused by surgery, but the obtained neural signals have a low spatial resolution and it is difficult to achieve targeted neural regulation." The micro-invasive brain-computer interface still requires the opening of the skull implant electrode, but the electrode is shallow, outside the cerebral cortex ductral, so the surgical risk is less than invasive. Xiao Yanan added.
Figure丨 Signal sources and characteristics of brain-computer interface system (Source: Respondent)
It is understood that The Chen Tianqiao Luo Qianqian Research Institute can predict the next action of the subjects through brain waves. So, can brain-computer interfaces treat psychiatric disorders by regulating nerves? This is a special concern for many patients' families.
"The structure and function of the human nervous system are very complex, and our understanding of the neural encoding and decoding programs inside the brain is still very limited." We can intervene in the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, traumatic stress disorder and other diseases through electromagnetic neuromodulation technology. Ultrasound brain-computer interface is an important research direction, and there is still a certain distance from the clinical treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. ”
Wu Dongrui said that no matter what kind of brain-computer interface application, its current achievable performance is still a long way from what people envision in science fiction works. In addition to the limitations of sensing technology, the more critical challenge is that human understanding of how the brain works is still very limited.
However, with the launch of brain plans in recent years, such as the brain initiative of the United States, the human brain project of the European Union, the brain/minds project of Japan, the Chinese brain project (that is, brain science and brain-like scientific research), etc., it is expected to make breakthroughs in brain research in the near future, thus bringing new opportunities for the further development of brain-computer interface technology.
The "Literary Memoirs" said: "The sun will cool, and before the destruction of the solar system, the earth will have an ice age, and human beings will not be able to survive." But the end of the world seems to be far away, churches, museums, art galleries, libraries, careful, solemn, once in the present and in eternity - in fact, they are all landscapes before destruction. ”
But what if human consciousness could exist forever? Completely abandon the body and live completely in the virtual world.
Eating, drinking, hugging, feeling, from the taste buds to the brain, from the hands to the spine can all be simulated by electrical signals. Whether it is crazy to abandon the body and live completely in the virtual world, Walter O'Brien, known as the "King of Hackers", said: "This is not a crazy delusion, but it will come, it is only a matter of time." ”
Photo by Walter O'Brien (Source: Interviewee)
In 2017, Walter O'Brien made the controversial observation that your body is not really you, only consciousness and memory are your own, and to put it bluntly, only the brain is you. What is the brain? It's nothing more than 2.5 petabytes (pb, 1 pb = 1000tb) of memory, and 100 billion neurons.
Figure丨 "2045" project website ( Source: 2045.com)
According to Moore's Law, in 2025, the chip will contain 100 billion transistors, and the hard disk will reach 2.5 pb at the same point in time. That means you can get a device as complex as the human brain for $300.
So ten years from now, it will be possible to back up the brain and back up brainwave activity. Although this is not artificial intelligence, it is fully capable of replicating neurons and their connections.
At present, humans have made great strides in stem cell research, just need to take your DNA to clone, and in four years you can make a 20-year-old version of you. I can download and upload your brain at any time to keep your body in its 20-year-old state forever.
This is only the first step in the "2045" plan, and the latter will be even crazier. The basis of this plan is to save the brain in some form, back it up, and reload it. Of course, this plan will not be realized until 2045, and there are still 29 years to go.
Figure | Related concept diagrams about immortality (Source: pixabay)
To sum up, Walter O'Brien believes that the body is just a physical means of transportation, and consciousness is the driver. Humans have spent decades studying diseases such as cancer, AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but there is no effective cure.
Even so, throw away the broken body and make it possible to back up the brain and back up the brainwave activity. Relying on human advances in stem cell research, it is only necessary to take someone's dna for cloning, and after four years, a 20-year-old version of the body can be created. At that time, you can download and upload the person's brain at any time, so that the body will stay in the state of 20 years old forever.
Simply put, Walter O'Brien's career goal is to achieve immortality. In terms of ultimate goals, Musk, Chen Tianqiao and others are like Walter O'Brien. It is also influential people like them who have pushed scientific topics such as brain-computer interface, brainwave research, and artificial intelligence to the public.