A tiny implant to connect Human & Machines

                A tiny implant the size of a grain of sand has been created that can connect computers to the human body without the need for wires or batteries, opening up a host of futuristic possibilities. The devices, dubbed “neural dust”, could be used to continually monitor organs like the heart in real time and if they can be made even smaller, implanted into the brain to control robotic devices like prosthetic arms or legs.

                It is believed that they could help treat conditions like epilepsy by stimulating nerves and muscles, help people width incontinence control their bladder and ev

en suppress appetite. They could also potentially either be used to prompt the immune system into action or reduce inflammation. One of the inventors, Professor Michel Maharbiz, of University of California, Berkeley, said: “I think the long term prospects for neural dust are not only within nerves and the brain, but much broader.

                Ultrasound vibrations, which can penetrate almost every part of the body, are used to power the sensors, which are about a millimeter across. They contain a special crystal that converts ultrasound into electricity to power a tiny transistor. If there is a voltage spike in a nerve or muscle fibre this alters the vibration of the crystal, changing the way the sound echoes back to an ultrasound receiver.

                So far, experiments have been carried out on muscles and the peripheral nervous system of rats, but the researchers believe the dust could also work in the central nervous system and brain to control prosthetics. The researchers are currently building neural dust that could last in the body for more than 10 years. And because they are wireless there is no need for holes to remain in the skull.