As readers of science fiction will be aware, the ultimate—if currently far-off—potential of brain-computer technologies could go well beyond medicine
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe stentrode is a routine stent, made from a flexible alloy called nitinol, to which an array of 16 laser-cut platinum electrodes has been added. It is inserted into the jugular vein in the neck and guided up into the brain, where surgeons guided by real-time-rays snuggle it into a blood vessel running past the part of the cortex responsible for movement.
The appeal is obvious. In an increasingly computerised world, a brain-computer interface that lets the paralysed think words onto screens and tell apps, machines or eventually prosthetic limbs what to do could be of huge benefit. The stentrode is not the only device in the field; Neuralink, a company founded by Elon Musk, is looking at a system that would be inserted using cunningly automated surgery.
In the early 1960s deep brain stimulation arrived. It uses electrical stimuli which vary by pulse width, voltage and frequency to treat Parkinson’s, obsessive-compulsive disorder and epilepsy. As confidence in the therapy has grown it has been investigated as a treatment for other things, including cluster headaches, chronic pain, eating disorders, Tourette’s syndrome and treatment-resistant depression.
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