After SpaceX rockets and Tesla’s electric cars, Elon Musk announced his future neuroscience technology Neuralink which is expected to provide humans with the capability to operate machines with their brains and cure brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. So, what is Neuralink? And how it works?
What is Neuralink?
Neuralink simply is a device that will be surgically implanted into the brain tissue using robots operated by neurosurgeons. In this process, a chip called the link is implanted in the skull. From this chip a number of insulated wires extends from the electrodes that are used in the process. This device can then be utilized to operate smartphones and computers without having to touch it.
How Neuralink Works?
Before getting into the mechanism of Neuralink, let’s first understand the science behind the human brain. The brain consists of neurons or nerve cells that transmit electric signals to cells in the body like muscles, nerves, glands and other neurons to stimulate them to do an activity commanded by the brain. Every neuron consists of three parts, the dendrite which receives signals from other neurons, the soma or the cell body which processes these signals and the axon which transmits the signal to other cells.’
The neurons are connected to each other by synapsis which releases neurotransmitters, which are the chemical substances sent to another neuron’s dendrite causing the flow of electric signals across the neuron. The electrodes extending from the Neuralink chip will detect the electric signals that are generated by several neurons in the brain. The signals are then transformed into action or movement.
What does Neuralink do?
As mentioned before, Neuralink is expected to cure brain diseases, and also it can be used as a link between the human brain and technology. This means that people with paralysis can easily operate their smartphones and computers directly with their brains. Its main goal is to help people to communicate through text or voice messages and other activities.
Prepared by: Ali Nasser
15 September 2022
