It wasn\u2019t the first tiny device to be implanted in a human brain. Still, Elon Musk\u2019s announcement on Monday turned heads in the small community of scientists who have spent decades working to treat certain disabilities and conditions by tapping directly into the body\u2019s nervous system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGetting a device into a person is no small feat,\u201d said Robert Gaunt, an associate professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think even Elon Musk would have taken on a project like this if it were not for the research and demonstrated capability over decades in neuroscience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk\u2019s announcement<\/a> was sudden and offered little information beyond the news itself: \u201cThe first human received an implant from @Neuralink<\/a> yesterday and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many scientists applauded Neuralink\u2019s announcement, while also cautiously noting that the company\u2019s clinical trial is in very early stages and not much information has been released publicly. Still, researchers said Neuralink has made significant gains and is doing exactly what startups are good at: taking what has been learned through basic science and trying to make a real, viable product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s too soon to know if Neuralink\u2019s implant will be effective in humans, but the company\u2019s announcement is an \u201cexciting development,\u201d said Gaunt, whose own work focuses on using implants \u2014 devices known as brain-computer interfaces \u2014 to restore motor control and functions like people\u2019s sense of touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said Neuralink\u2019s new milestone is jump-starting an industry that has already undergone rapid advancement in the last 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first brain-computer interface was implanted into a human in the late 1990s, research that was led by a pioneering neurologist named Phil Kennedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea was that these devices could tap into the brain circuitry that remains intact after injury to perform basic movements and functions. For instance, when a person thinks about moving their hands or watches someone else move their hand, a lot of the same neurons in the brain are active as if they performed the movement themself, said Jennifer Collinger, an associate professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can find patterns of activity in the neural data that correlate with those movements, so you can essentially flip that relationship around to then give them control over the actual movement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2004, a tiny device known as the Utah array<\/a> was implanted in a human for the first time, allowing a paralyzed man to control a computer cursor with his neural impulses. The device, invented by Richard Normann at the University of Utah, looks like a small chip with thin spikes that are actually dozens of tiny electrodes. The array is designed to attach to the skull through an opening in the skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the Utah array, scientists have been able to demonstrate how brain-computer interfaces can help people control a robotic arm with their mind<\/a>,\u2002stimulate their own muscles and limbs<\/a>, use computers and other external devices, and even decode handwriting<\/a> and speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll of that was a really important proof of concept to show that this technology could be useful,\u201d said Collinger, whose own work focuses on restoring arm and hand function to allow patients with paralysis not just to move these appendages, but also to use them to manipulate objects and perform more skillful movements that incorporate tactile signals and other forms of sensory feedback. The idea is to enable a wider range of functions necessary for day-to-day life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter Neuralink. Musk\u2019s startup, along with other similar private ventures such as Synchron and Precision Neuroscience, are essentially taking what has been learned over decades to make brain-computer interfaces more practical for more patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuralink won approval last year from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its first human clinical study. Details about who was selected and the procedure to implant the device that Musk said took place Sunday were few and far between, but the company has been developing a brain implant that would allow people, such as patients with severe paralysis, to control a computer, phone or other external device using their thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The startup has already made several big leaps forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the Utah array, Neuralink\u2019s device is fully implantable, which means patients could eventually be less constrained \u2014 most implants require people to perform activities in a controlled lab setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was a huge engineering challenge,\u201d Gaunt said. \u201cThat was the sort of thing that academics and other people had de-risked over many decades, but it really took a difficult and concerted engineering effort to actually build it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been some bumps along the way. The company was mired in controversy after activist groups and internal staff complaints alleged that Neuralink mistreated some of the animals used in experiments. A federal investigation did not turn up evidence of any violations beyond an \u201cadverse surgical event\u201d in 2019 that the company reported itself, according to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuralink is not the first to put a fully implantable brain-computer interface in a human patient, but Gaunt said the company has improved how much these devices can record by leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuralink also uses innovative robotic surgery, rather than a specialized neurosurgeon, to implant the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s way different from what people have done before,\u201d said Sergey Stavisky, an assistant professor in the department of neurological surgery at the University of California, Davis, and co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stavisky said automating the procedure with a robot could make it more efficient and effective down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can put more of them in, you can put them in quickly, you can avoid blood vessels,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s also just hard and new, and you have to show that the robot is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Demonstrating safety will be one of the primary functions of Neuralink\u2019s clinical trial<\/a>. In the coming months, the startup will need to show that its device can function with no serious adverse effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether the implant works as intended also remains to be seen. In his announcement on X, Musk said the patient \u201cis recovering well\u201d and that initial results \u201cshow promising neuron spike detection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without data, it\u2019s difficult to know what that means, but Gaunt said it likely indicates that the electrodes are in place, a neuron nearby has fired and the implant can essentially detect that activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt basically means that, at least on some level, it\u2019s working,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk said the early clinical trials will aim to treat people with paralysis or paraplegia. If the device works, it could one day be used to address a range of ailments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. David Brandman, a neurosurgeon who co-directs the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab with Stavisky, already uses fully implanted devices to treat patients with Parkinson\u2019s disease, seizures and abnormal pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to medical needs, brain-computer interfaces can make a huge impact, he said, including for stroke survivors and patients with spinal cord injury, paralysis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis<\/a> (ALS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n