Writer: Natalie Ellsworth
Introduction
You might have heard of Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and the man who bought Twitter, and renamed it to X. However, have you heard of his newest invention, Neuralink? Neuralink is a small cosmetically invisible implant, surgically placed into the Motor Cortex (the part of the brain that controls movement.) In 2016, Noland Arbaugh suffered a severe spinal injury while swimming in a lake leaving him paralyzed, later that year Musk came out with Neuralink. Fast forward to 2024, Arbaugh became the first patient to receive Neuralink. Noland went from not being able to move and relying on his parents for all his daily activities, to being able to control a computer just by simply thinking about it. I think Neuralink is a god-send, Neuralink while being tiny, it is quite mighty. Neuralink possibly has the ability to cure paralysis as well as many other seemingly “incurable” diseases and permanent injuries. Outside of Neuralink as a whole, Elon Musk has been in quite a few controversies that I do not support nor align with, however outside of that, this invention of his is ground breaking and amazing. I hope in the future it is able to achieve what it is set out to do, and more.
How Does Neuralink Work?
Neuralink uses advanced, powerful microchips to process electrochemical events. The implant is then placed under the skull, into the motor cortex and contains 64 microfiber-like wires ranging across 1,024 electrodes to read neurological activity that connects the brain and can be hooked up to a computer or wireless device. After the surgery is performed, the patient can think about anything, and have that displayed on a computer or wireless smartphone. Like asking an Artificial Intelligence Assistant (AI) to play something on a speaker, but you do not have to say it, you just think it. With any brain surgery, this poses concerns and complications; furthermore, if the implant is successful on multiple people, it would be groundbreaking. My father, in 1998 broke his back due to a motorcycle crash, almost leaving him paralyzed. If Neuralink was created back then maybe he wouldn’t be in as much pain as he is now. Now that Neuralink is an invention, it has the ability to help millions of people and cure paralysis. People suffering from paralysis who were once unable to communicate, can now play their favorite video games, talk with their loved ones and experience new-found independence.
PRIME Clinical Trials
Neuralink has been under testing and operation since 2016, however their human trials did not start until January of this year. Their clinical trial, PRIME (Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface,) uses BCI (Brain-Computer Interface,) to accurately depict brain movement and translate it into mechanical movement, allowing a patient to control a computer or wireless device just by thinking about it. Before first tested on Arbaugh, Musk tested the chip on monkeys, desperately craving success. While at first some did not work he tweaked the chip after every failure until he finally got it right. He then got it FDA approved and reached out to the public with a statement on X (formally “Twitter.”) asking for recruiters. I personally do not think using animals for medical testing is humane, however, because Neuralink is a brain chip, it would be even more inhumane to immediately jump immediately to human testing. I believe Neuralink is one of a kind and requires one of a kind grade testing.
First Surgical Patient
This ground-breaking experimental surgery had their first human patient in January of this year. Arbaugh signed up for the PRIME clinical trial in 2016, and was the first eligible considered patient. Phil Kennedy, the lead Neurosurgeon successfully performed the first BCI Neuralink implant. The “WIRED” blog’s reporter, Emily Mullin interviewed Arbaugh post-op, to get his insight on the surgery. ‘“ I was in my hospital bed right after surgery…They showed me a screen with different channels on it that they said was real-time signals that Neuralink was picking up in my brain, so I knew it was working…I was lying there thinking ‘This is so cool!’” The device took some getting used to, but now Arbaugh is living a much happier life being able to play video games again, communicate with his loved ones and get a sliver of what his life used to be again.
How Does Neuralink Impact Society?
Not only could Neuralink help paralyzed people, but Musk and his team are hoping to help people with AI in a plethora of ways. Musk is shooting to restore lost neural activity in damaged parts of the brain. This would not only help people with paralysis operate technology, but it would help them regain motion in their limbs and possibly fully recover with the help of new future prototypes. Outside of paralysis, Musk and a sharp team of Neurosurgeons and Neuroscientists are aiming to curate chips to help cure people suffering from mental illness, neurological conditions such as Dementia and Alzheimers, and cure blindness and partial blindness. Musk’s main goal is to test the limits of medical science and implement AI technology into medicine to further the innovative and new advances of the medical world. For a period in my life, I battled with mental illness. Everyday of my life in that period, I did not want to be alive and I hated myself and projected that onto everybody near and dear to me. Now, I am a lot better but I still battle with it everyday. If Neuralink progressed to the point of curing and treating mental illness, I would get it in a heartbeat. I wish I could have saved my younger self with Neuralink, I would have. Now there is a chance in the future for people like me to get help and cure their mental illness. I hope Neuralink has the ability to advance to its fullest ability and save the lives of people around the globe.
Cited Sources:
Chappell, Bill. “What to Know About Elon Musk’s Neuralink, Which Put an Implant Into a Human Brain.” NPR, 30 Jan. 2024, www.npr.org/2024/01/30/1227850900/elon-musk-neuralink-implant-clinical-trial.
Mullin, Emily. “Neuralink’s First User Is ‘Constantly Multitasking’ With His Brain Implant.” WIRED, 22 May 2024, www.wired.com/story/neuralink-first-patient-interview-noland-arbaugh-elon-musk.
Neuralink. “Neuralink — Pioneering Brain Computer Interfaces.” Neuralink, Neuralink — Pioneering Brain Computer Interfaces
Khan, Aasma. “Neuralink’s First User: Life After the Brain Implant.” Neuralink's first user: Life after the brain implant | YourStory
Shih, Jerry J., et al. “Brain-Computer Interfaces in Medicine.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, vol. 87, no. 3, Mar. 2012, pp. 268–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2011.12.008.
Blue Badge Insurance Australia “Neuralink Chip: What Is It and Can It Cure Paralysis and Blindness?” Neuralink Chip for Those with Paralysis & Blindness - Blue Badge (bluebadgeinsurance.com.au)
This article has been written by an individual not in the Medical Blogs team as an "Open Submission Article".
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