Biotech & Medicine

A Minimally Invasive Chip Was Introduced In China: A Competitor To Elon Musk’s Neuralink

A group of scientists from Tsinghua University reported that the brain implant they developed restored the mobility of a long-paralyzed patient’s arm. It is noted that the Chinese development is less dangerous for brain tissue than Elon Musk’s Neuralink implant. The Mask implant penetrates the nervous tissue and destroys some of the nerve cells at the installation site, while the Chinese sensor is placed on top of the nervous tissue.

The Chinese team’s implant, called Neural Electronic Opportunity (NEO), allowed a quadriplegic patient to perform arm movements using a prosthetic controlled by his brain. The man became paralyzed in all four limbs 14 years ago after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident. After three months of rehabilitation at home, he was able to pick up a bottle using a prosthetic arm.

The Chinese team’s “minimally invasive” implant, which is the size of two coins, is designed to be placed in the skull.  It does not contain batteries, as it is powered remotely from a wireless network using a high-frequency antenna. The NEO system is not implanted directly into nerve tissue.  Instead, electrodes are placed in the epidural space between the brain and skull. The electrodes pick up nerve signals and transmit them wirelessly to an external receiver attached to the scalp. These signals can then be decoded by a smartphone or computer.

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