Working Nerve Chip

poetic writes: "Two scientists from Munich have succeeded in creating a nerve chip with silicon and snail nerves. The cells were hindered from growing away from the silicon with a plastic fence. They managed to get a signal to go from silicon through a neural circuit and back to the chip again. Cute, one step closer to a decent uplink! See the abstract at Nature's site."

Comments

An important step up

[Zergwyn]

Recently researchers successfully linked up a couple of leach neurons to silicon, but while the connections worked it was not an actual chip. This is a step up on the complexity scale.

Leach neurons and those of other critters are useful to experiment with because they are very large, especially in comparison to most mammals. This makes it much easier to connect them to electronics. It will probably be a while before we see anything with people, because the connections must be so tiny. It seems likely though that as nanotech and neuroscience advance, this field will become one of the hottest in science.

Re:Amazing, yet scary

[keesh]

What I'd really like would be to have a CPU in my arm. Not for real thought -- too complicated just now -- but for the odd maths test it'd be extremely useful...

Of course, it'd have to be something slow -- could you imagine a human with cooling fans stuck all over them?

Waste

[Herstel]

The chip's cells will need food. Therefore the chip will produce some waste, we'll need odour eliminators. "CountryBouquet air freshener" by AMD.

It has to be said...

[Robber Baron]

You will be assimilated...
resistance is futile!

But the only problem is...

[Pig Hogger]

Two scientists from Munich have succeded in creating a nerve chip with silicon and snail nerves.

But the only problem is the slowness of the propagation.

Next year, they are going to try the same experiment with rabbit nerves, to see if there is a speed improvement.

Interesting focus....

[GreyPoopon]

I'm actually surprised at the fact that the article focused on prosthetic implants (ie into the brain) as one of the primary benefits of this technology. Many of us on /. followed with similar thoughts. However, I see other applications to be much closer on the horizon. While we have a long way to go before we can start wet-wiring silicon to our brains, I think we could use this technology for artificial limbs much sooner. Theoretically, it should be possible to build entirely eltromechanical limbs that have the ability to transmit feeling -- hot and cold, pressure, pain, etc. Being able to connect electronic sensors in these limbs to actual nerve tissue is the missing link. In cases where a limb truly could not be attached, this would be the next best option. Any speculation on how long it will be?

hmm has anyone ...

[anshil]

... already patented the 10base-T Interface on the human body? Hmm I guess I'll immediatly rush to the patent office, and get also USB, Firewire and for the sake of it good old RS232 for direct humanoid interfacing.

Remember you don't have to bring a proof of work to patent something, just have to wait somebody else does.

Maybe the man-page will get a new meaning in the future?

Kevin Warwick

[Kraft]

If this has your interest, UK professor Kevin Warwick definatly will. He had a chip implanted in 1998, making him a cyborg (not the first though). He researches robotics and decided to get the implant for a week or so, which communicated with the university where he worked through a radio link (his story in Wired).

THIS year, he is taking it to the next step. "Project Cyborg 2.0":
This phase will look at how a new implant could send signals back and forth between Warwick's nervous system and a computer. If this test succeeds with no complications, a similar chip will be implanted in his wife, Irena. This will allow the investigation of how movement, thought or emotion signals could be transmitted from one person to the other, possibly via the Internet.

I heard on BBC, where he was interviewed, that he wanted to find out, if they could transfer/share pain, he and his wife. Interesting stuff.

What I personally find cool about Kevin (yes, he is a first name kinda guy ;) is that he is doing this on himself. There are actually health risks involved in the operation, which is why he chose to get it in his left arm, as he is right-handed. I guess someone would argue that it's unscientific experimenting on yourself, rather than a test subject, but for me it shows how much he burns for this subject, and if see an interview with him, I think you will agree.