Science is Fun Fridays!
A brain computer interface company called Synchron has announced the first direct-thought tweet.
Phillip O'Keefe is a 62 year old man from Australia who has been paralyzed by ALS. In April 2020, after his condition deteriorated, he was fitted with an endovascular Stentrode brain-computer interface. This enables patients to wirelessly control digital devices through thought.
How?
A node is implanted in the brain via the jugular vein in the neck, and it sits on the motor cortex where it can pick up on brain signals. The user can look at a screen with a keyboard on it and envision which letter they want to type. Through a device placed on the chest, a machine learning algorithm will then process the brain data and translate those signals into specific commands.
"The system is astonishing, it's like learning to ride a bike - it takes practice, but once you're rolling, it becomes natural," says O'Keefe.
Synchron was very happy with the response the tweet received, highlighting the "connection, hope and freedom BCIs give to people like Phil who have had so much of their functional independence taken away due to debilitating paralysis." -CEO, Thomas Oxley.
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