The First Goal Of The World Cup Has Been Flying For Six Years. How Far Is It From The "Transformation" Of Human Beings?

On June 12, 2014, at the opening ceremony of the world cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Juliano Pinto, a T4 paraplegic Brazilian teenager, opened the first goal of the world cup with his mind, which shocked the world.

And it's Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of Neuroscience at Duke University School of medicine and an expert on brain computer interface.

Brain computer interface (BCI) refers to the direct connection between brain and external devices, and the realization of information exchange between brain and equipment. As early as 1998, Miguel Nicolelis began to work on this technology. At first, it carried out experiments on monkeys, and then carried out human experiments.

In 2014, he successfully demonstrated "idea kick-off" in front of the world, which is undoubtedly a highlight moment for Miguel Nicolelis to carry out BCI research. With the passage of time, what is the progress of BCI technology? Besides brain computer interface, what kind of "transformation" can human beings make?

Recently, during the 2020 Tencent science we conference, Miguel Nicolelis and Bao Zhenan, a chemist known as the "master of materials" in the field of artificial skin and director of the Department of chemical engineering of Stanford University, respectively gave interviews to reporters in the form of video, and described the "transformation of human" project they are working on.

In 2014, Miguel Nicolelis, a famous Brazilian neuroscientist, demonstrated his leading neurological device project "walking again". Visual China

Brain computer interface

The latest time brain computer interface has attracted public attention was in August this year when Tesla founder musk showed the world three pigs implanted with brain computer chips. From Tesla to SpaceX, musk has done a lot of things that subvert people's imagination, so this time, although his subjects are still in the animal stage, people seem to have begun to imagine the brain implanted with chips.

However, regarding the concepts of "telepathy" and "digital immortality" put forward by musk, Miguel Nicolelis bluntly said in an interview that these statements have no scientific basis and are unlikely to happen. It is more like a marketing method to attract people's attention. "I don't agree with any of his words."

At the same time, Miguel Nicolelis also thinks that this idea is a "dead end" for Musk's implantable program, because in his opinion, the implantable program is only applicable to those patients who have no choice but to be very serious. For most people, non-invasive, EEG based solutions should be adopted.

"In addition to being a neuroscientist, I am also a doctor, so patient safety comes first." Miguel Nicolelis said, "any invasive approach has its own risks. We have done a lot of implantation experiments on animals before, but people and animals are different after all."

In the same way, Miguel Nicolelis is skeptical about the "photosensitive control" proposed by many scholars, because this technology requires injecting chemicals into the brain, which will also bring very complex safety problems.

Miguel Nicolelis said that some potential applications of BCI technology do cause people's concern, but its most important concern is to help people in medicine. "The ultimate goal of BCI technology is to meet the needs of patients, rather than just show off technology from a technical point of view."

It is reported that Miguel Nicolelis research started from spinal cord injury. At present, the third generation BCI of Miguel Nicolelis research has begun to shift to more diversified research on neurological disorders.

For example, Juliano Pinto, the Brazilian who kicked off at the world cup, had been paralyzed below T4 in a car accident for nine years. With the help of a mechanical exoskeleton made by Miguel Nicolelis's team, he was able to stand and walk again, under his own control.

What's more, after 10 months of training for the world cup, Juliano Pinto's level of paralysis has also changed from below T4 to below T11, which means that Juliano Pinto has seven vertebrae that have restored their sensory and motor functions.

Later, Miguel Nicolelis found that paralyzed patients can even walk without relying on mechanical exoskeletons through persistent training. In 2016, Miguel Nicolelis also published a paper on the first record of partial body function recovery 10 years after complete paralysis caused by the highest level of spinal injury.

Miguel Nicolelis said that the consensus on key principles in the field has been growing over the past 20 years, which is a basis for the development of brain computer interface technology. The consensus that will be formed in the field is that brain activity is achieved through the coordinated activities of a large number of neurons, rather than the activities of specific cells with specific functions.

For the future, Miguel Nicolelis believes that brain computer interface technology can unify the treatment theory of neurological and mental disorders, and can be used to create better treatments for related patients, including chronic depression, Parkinson's disease, chronic epilepsy and some cognitive disorders.

Electronic skin

Unlike Miguel Nicolelis's brain computer interface, Bao studied "electronic skin.". "Electronic skin" is actually a general term for electronic sensor devices which are flexible and even stretchable like human skin, and have the functions of sensing temperature, pressure and humidity.

Bao zhe Nan said to reporters, to achieve electronic skin, to solve three problems. The first is that the electronic materials used can be as soft and stretch as skin, and even self-healing and biodegradation; the second is to make these materials have the ability of perception; the last is to make the artificial skin combine with the human body and transmit the skin signal to the brain.

After years of research, Bao Zhenan has found the electronic materials that meet the above conditions. In 2008, Bao Zhenan's team first proposed to use organic polymer electronic materials to study "artificial skin", becoming one of the first scientific research teams to carry out research in this field. Recently, he became the first winner of the ACS central science topper and innovator award of the American Chemical Society for his "extensive and subversive research in the field of conducting polymer molecular design and application, and his outstanding contribution to the development of artificial electronic skin and other bioelectronic devices".

At present, Bao's team has implanted it into the body of experimental mice, and after two months of observation, the mice can still exercise and live normally. This has proved that artificial skin can indeed be compatible with biological systems, but it will take time for these artificial skins to be used in humans, Bao said.

Although jenan has not been able to apply artificial skin technology to human body. They can put the sensors on the human body when they start to feel it. If this seems a little far away, wearable medical devices with artificial skin may be applied even earlier.

Bao said that while studying artificial skin, they also produced a lot of new inspiration. For example, for newborn infants, they are very vulnerable. If they want to monitor their blood pressure, they need to use acupuncture into their blood vessels, which may cause great harm. Therefore, doctors usually choose not to measure the baby's blood pressure. If they use artificial skin, they can gently stick it to the baby to achieve blood pressure test.

For the imagination of the future of artificial skin, Bao Zhenan thinks that it can be combined with brain machine. "The advantage of using artificial skin for brain machine combination is that it does not need to contact the nerves with metal materials, so it will not cause damage to nerves, which can obtain more accurate signals under the premise of ensuring safety."

As for artificial skin, we can use advanced technology to make artificial skin, and we can use advanced technology to manufacture artificial skin