Neuralink, a neuroscience company owned by Elon Musk (Elon Musk), has just released a new blog post and video detailing the team's major breakthroughs in brain control research:Using a Neuralink device implanted in the brain of a pug (Pager) rhesus monkey, using brain-computer interface technology, a monkey can control a computer without a joystick and play the game "MindPong" (a video game that simulates two people playing ping-pong) without a joystick.

Later, SpaceX and CEO Musk of Tesla tweeted that Neuralink's first product would allow paralyzed people to use their minds to play with their phones faster than those who use their thumbs. Musk stressed that through the Neuralink device in the brain and body motor / sensory neuron clusters (a later version), patients with lower limb paralysis could be able to walk again.

According to Musk's latest statement, this means that Neuralink brings brain-computer interface technology to a wider range of applications, one step closer to Musk's goal of "whole-brain interface" (Whole Brain Interface).(note: the whole brain interface refers to connecting all human neurons to AI carriers.)

In fact, as a "cool techs"-like brain science and technology, brain-computer interface (BCI) establishes a direct pathway between human or animal brain (or the culture of brain cells) and external devices, and has carried out a number of studies and applications. For example, studies have shown that patients with cerebral palsy can use a robotic arm to drink beer through a brain-computer interface. Last year, a study pointed out that the use of brain-computer interface devices has enabled paralyzed patients to achieve normal movements such as standing and walking.

Musk's Neuralink, founded in 2016, focuses on brain-computer interface technology.

The existing brain-computer interfaces are generally divided into intrusive and non-invasive interfaces. Neuralink's research generally belongs to the former, which requires the implantation of tiny electrodes in the brain and the use of electricity to allow computers to "interact" with brain cells.

In September 2019, Neuralink, founded by Musk, developed the "brain-computer neural network" device N1, which attaches more than 3000 electrodes to flexible filaments, or will realize the brain's mind to control the computer. After that, the research of brain-computer interface has been promoted to the public view and has become a hot spot.

In August 2020, Musk again released the latest Neuralink research results and realized the experiment of implanting a brain-computer interface in pigs: using a coin-sized implant device, Link V0.9, and a surgical robot V2, the coin device was implanted into the cerebral cortex of the top of the human skull to complete the implantation of the brain-computer interface. The machine obtains the electrode signals in the brain and transmits them to mobile phones, computers and other devices to complete the data transmission between the brain and the computer in real time.

In the newly released video, Neuralink demonstrates how the research team used self-developed sensor hardware and brain implants to record the baseline activity of a 9-year-old macaque (called Pager) playing video games on the screen.

Six weeks before the video was filmed, Pug had a brain-computer interface implanted in his brain. Initially, the research team taught him to play video games on game consoles and rewarded him with banana milkshakes fed with metal straws. Since then, Neuralink uses EEG feedback from the device to record information about which neurons are emitting-essentially training by recording areas of activity in the brain and predicting hand movements.

After continuous brain learning training, the researchers disconnected Pug, which runs the joystick, from the computer. It turns out that without a joystick, monkeys can continue to play Pong games with only their own minds.

According to The Verge, the latest research published by Neuralink has not been published in journal papers or peer-reviewed. However, previous research teams have successfully realized that humans use brain implants to play video games.

In 2006, the well-known scientific journal "Nature" (Nature) magazine published online a research result in American colleges and universities: the team implanted a brain-computer interface into the brain of patients with spinal cord injury (Matthew Nagle), took only four days of training, and finally realized to play simple video games such as Pong by opening and closing a mobile manipulator, and easily remotely controlled the volume and channels of the TV, thus accomplishing the same research achievements as Neuralink.

Moreover, Han Bicheng, founder of BrainCo brain Technology, once told titanium media that Musk's research on pigs and monkeys had been tested at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had been successful, but these experiments had not been done on humans.

A number of industry experts told titanium media that Neuralink's series of achievements in the brain computer field "does not have the slightest innovation", "mice, dogs and pigs are the only way, it does not mean anything." "

Han Bicheng believes that the technological progress announced by Neuralink is more of a technological breakthrough in brain surgery than a new breakthrough in brain-computer interface.

The chip released by Neuralink can detect pig brain signals, and this technology has actually been done one after another over the past 20 years. The papers published by MIT sodini Labs are almost the same as those published by Musk. Han Bicheng said, "this is not a major breakthrough in brain science, but a major breakthrough in brain surgery. The best description of the conference should be a major breakthrough in brain surgery and related equipment. "

Han Bicheng stressed that because of the invasive craniotomy, it is difficult for researchers to get many human experimental opportunities, resulting in a small sample size of brain-computer data, coupled with the fact that everyone's physical condition is different, and finally collect the returned information. It's hard to get an accurate judgment.Before conducting human experiments, he was not optimistic about the development of Neuralink.

Besides,Musk has also made some bolder remarks, such as brain-computer interface technology that will allow people to communicate directly through the brain without using language within five years, realizing the legendary "telepathy".

In response, Miguel Nichollis (Miguel Nicolelis), a professor of neurology at Duke University School of Medicine in the United States, who is known as the "father of brain-computer interface," said in an interview with titanium media at the Tencent Science Conference in November last year."there will be no telepathy, no immortality. I don't agree with a word of what Musk said. "

I think it is impossible to achieve mind control through brain-computer interface, as mentioned in science fiction movies or novels, and there is no scientific basis. I am very sorry that Musk made such a wrong statement, which has no scientific basis. I assure you, this is not going to happen. His statement is more like a marketing tool used to attract attention, but such a statement is not helpful to the scientific work in our field at all. One thing I want to say is that I don't agree with a word of what he said.

In the view of Nicolelis, a neuroscientist and doctor, Neuralink's idea is a dead end and the craniotomy implant program is "too risky". For most patients, it is recommended to adopt non-invasive brain-computer interaction technology with high safety.

In an exclusive interview with titanium media, Chen Tianqiao, founder of (TCCI) of Chen Tianqiao Qianqian Research Institute, once expounded his views on "opening the brain".He believes that the focus of the research on the brain-computer interface route is how to make the implanted chips more secure, more channels, and more accurate data. For patients, treatment should be the main treatment, all the latest technology, all feasible means should be used, including craniotomy.

In Chen Tianqiao's view, the use of collected data, coupled with machine learning algorithms and other technical means, without damaging the patient's brain, can achieve the same effect and feedback as intrusive, or even exceed the latter. He believes that Musk's team's research is ultimately difficult to get through.

It is understood that Chen Tianqiao Qianqian brain computer Interface Center is one of the research institutions of Chen Tianqiao Qianqian brain Science Research Institute. it is an institution that mainly focuses on brain exploration, treatment of brain-related diseases and brain function development. Shanda Group founder Chen Tianqiao and his wife Qian Qianqian were jointly established in 2016 and plan to invest 100 million US dollars in brain science every year. At present, the organization has made a number of breakthroughs, including face recognition, brain-computer interface, brain imaging, cognitive science and so on.

In March 2021, the top journal of Neuroscience "Neuron" (Neuron) published online that through a new minimally invasive brain-computer interface, using functional ultrasound (fUS) technology, Chen Tianqiao Qianqian brain Interface Center and the Department of Biology and Bioengineering of California Institute of Technology can accurately map the activity in precise areas of the brain and read out the brain activity corresponding to the exercise plan. This study breaks through the limit of ultrasonic neuroimaging technology and can bring good news to more patients who need brain injury. This is an important step in the realization of (BCI), a powerful brain-computer interface technology.

"the focus of research on this route is how to make the implanted chips safer, more channels, and more accurate data, but this craniotomy is not a revolutionary breakthrough. The California Institute of Technology research that we support is actually making faster progress than Neuralink. Chen Tianqiao told titanium media.

Chen Tianqiao stressed that the future brain-computer interface is not a simple implantable experiment, but more to do the brain development network (Brain development), which is based on brain research, to make the brain stronger, including the use of AI technology, AR/VR, and the brain's vision vision to recreate and perceive the world.

If nothing happens, Musk will hold a press conference in September, when the new results of the Neuralink team's research may be announced.