When will I be able to upload my brain to a computer?
We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units – therefore comparable to a computer. Reality, however, is much more complicated. For starters, we don’t actually know how much information the human brain can hold....
DARPA Announces Funding For a High-Resolution, Implantable Neural Interface
The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has just announced contracts to fund five research groups and one company contracts as jump start its Neural Engineering System Design program. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, Program Manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO), discusses the potential of next-generation...
Loughborough University develop revolutionary explosive detection device
Loughborough University has unveiled a new device that can identify tiny amounts of explosive particles invisible to the naked eye. ExDtect – the brainchild of Loughborough professor John Tyler uses sophisticated laser technology and can remotely scan vehicles, crowded areas, and cargo not just to detect traces of...
Brain implants give rats the ability to sense infrared light
A team of researchers led by Duke University neuroscientist Miguel Nicoleli have successfully implanted infrared sensors into the brains of rats, allowing them to sense and react to infrared light. The rats’ new sense was tested by guiding them to feeding stations which emitted infrared signals, which their...
Dissolving brain monitor developed by scientists
Traditionally an injured brain requires several rounds of surgery, a mess of wires and exposed wounds in order to find out what’s happening. However, this could be about to change. A brain monitor, roughly the same size as a grain of rice, has been created by a lab...
Robots sensory skin
A team from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, led by Xiaodeng Chen, have developed a sensitive skin for robots. The skin is made up of skin-inspired touch sensors which are capable of storing information, meaning it can both remember what it has touched, and store impressions of...