Future hackers can use wireless to take over your brain someday

Light genetics is the miracle of our time, where neuroscientists can use light pulses to turn brain cells on or off. But until now scientists have faced an obvious conundrum: how can light pulses be transported to brain cells hidden in animal skulls?

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Recently, a group of neuroscientists at Stanford University in the IEEE Spectrum November issue introduced their latest research on brain-computer interfaces. Integrated Biomedical Systems Lab's Ada Poon and colleagues invented a miniature wireless led device that can be completely implanted under the skin of a mouse. When the rats were running around, researchers could use the device to turn on the light and stimulate the neurons in the mice, allowing people to control the mouse's movement in the cage wirelessly.

The researchers used LED devices implanted in the head of the mouse and the nerves of the legs to stimulate genetically modified neurons that reacted to the flash. This light genetics technique (optogenetic technology) allows researchers to accurately control a group of neurons and then study the results. These wireless-powered implants are only about one pepper in size, and this pepper-sized device has only 1% of the previous photo-genetics equipment. Our mice have no cables, batteries or wacky head-mounted devices, so they can move freely-a must-have for testing common mazes or swimming. The new device consists of a power receiving coil, a chip, and an LED that weighs between 20-50 mg (a small white rat's head weighs about 2 grams). Its small size means that it can be implanted not only in the brain, but also in the spine or limbs, allowing researchers to use light genetics to stimulate the spinal cord and peripheral nerves. Researchers point out that implants can be done with ready-made components and tools, and they want the scientific community to adopt the device as soon as possible.

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Over the past five years, researchers have been working on wireless systems that will receive signals from a headset to stimulate or trigger implanted LEDs. However, some receiving devices are heavier than the brains of white rats, and they also interfere with the movement of the mouse and the freedom to communicate with other white mice. This direct brain control once belonged only to sci-fi. But with the advent of this new technology, we can use light to initiate brain cells and activate specific neural circuits, and to observe their effects on biological physiology and behavior. The goal of this study is to find out the benefits of medicine through a better understanding of the nervous system and the possible clinical application of the technique.

To solve the tracking problem, the researchers began loading a radio beacon or position sensor into the mouse's head or feet, but these systems were too complex. I found the answer in the rat's own body. Each object will naturally resonate when it meets the electromagnetic waves of a particular frequency, as determined by the geometry and material properties of the object. First, the wave of energy in the white mouse fence under the grid floor of a particular size resonant cavity within the resonance, which can be very clever to store the power. Radiofrequency waves also resonate in the white mouse, so every point in the mouse's contact with the floor allows energy to flow into the body of the mouse and through the tissue to the implanted receiving coil. My team used a computer program to build a model for the body of the mouse, inserting information such as the average body and tissue insulation of the rats into the system, and then we used the simulator to solve the resonant frequency of the experimental rat.

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If we can know where individual memories are stored and can use tools to find ways to reach them, our work directly affects clinical research. Can help scientists find similar patterns that lead to human disease, allowing these patients to remember more useful things, such as what's happening in their lives, or the faces of the people they love. With the growing development of light genetics, it is becoming easier for us to make more sophisticated brain research. (new discoveries of science and Technology, Constantine/Wen)

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Future hackers can use wireless to take over your brain someday