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Neural "Extension Cord" Developed
moon_monkey writes "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a 'neural extension cord' by growing neurons attached to a microchip. The cord is made by gradually moving two batches of neurons apart, as they naturally grow towards one another. This biological 'data cable' could then interface with the brain once implanted, the researchers say." From the article: "...in the long run, it may not be necessary to interface directly with nerves at all. 'In Europe most researchers in this field are using non-invasive EEG,' [an outside researcher] explains... 'The signals are weaker so more complex processing is needed, but not having to perform surgery on the nervous system has many advantages,' [he] says."
I never realized how many idiot comments people made on /. until today.
Can anyone explain non-invasive EEG versus (I guess) invasive EEG?
They don't mean "non-invasive EEG", they mean "non-invasive", which means no surgery is requried. This happens to be an EEG helmet. The alternative, "invasive", involves of course the surgical implantation of some interfacing device.
Briefly, non-invasive currently sucks. It's nice in that it can work by just wearing a helmet, but you can only (currently) reliably get one bit of information out of it (I vaguely remember hearing about someone getting two, not sure). non-invasive systems are also bulky and require a lot of preparation to use. Also, they require training to use the system and some people are incapable of using it.
Invasive kind of sucks because you have to have your head opened up, but the results are quite impressive. They have trained a rat to mentally control a water dispensing robot, and they have gotten a monkey to control a robotic arm, for example. Read "the Body Electric" by James Geary. Obviously it's harder to get testing on humans for invasive technologies off the ground.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interf ace.