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Washington, June 14 — Researchers have developed an implantable fuel cell that may drive highly efficient brain implants of the future, helping paralysed patients regain control of their arms and legs.
Developed and designed by Rahul Sarpeshkar, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and Benjamin Rapoport, former graduate student in Sarpeshkar's lab, who led the study, the fuel cells runs on the same sugar that powers human cells - glucose.
Researchers fabricated the fuel cell on a silicon chip, allowing it to be integrated with other circuits that would be needed for a brain implant, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reports.
The idea of a glucose fuel cell is not new: In the 1970s, scientists showed they could power a pacemaker with a glucose fuel cell, but the idea was abandoned in favour of lithium-ion batteries, which could provide significantly more power per unit area than glucose fuel cells, according to an MIT statement.
These glucose fuel cells also utilised enzymes that proved to be impractical for long-term implantation in the body, since they eventually ceased to function efficiently.
The new twist to the MIT fuel cell, fabricated from silicon, using the same technology behind semiconductor electronic chips, is that it has no biological components: It consists of a platinum catalyst that strips electrons from glucose, mimicking the activity of cellular enzymes that break down glucose to generate ATP, the cell's energy currency.
Platinum has a proven record of long-term biocompatibility within the body. ***
Неотторгаемый имплантант с собственной ТЭ генерацией на глюкозе крови разработан.
Важно что в процессе работы генератор на выхлопе имеет всё естественное для организма.
А учитвая возможности чипового интерфейса к нужным системам организма, чип может управлять рядом интеллектуально-управленческих функций организма.
Теперь осталось ждать реального вживления.
Интересно кто станет первым кибернетическим Луи Пастером, которому вживят чип?
MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
- By Sebastian Anthony on June 13, 2012 at 9:55 am
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Neuroengineers at MIT have created a implantable fuel cell that generates electricity from the glucose present in the cerebrospinal fluid that flows around your brain and spinal cord. In theory, this fuel cell could eventually drive low-power sensors and computers that decode your brain activity to interface with prosthetic limbs.
The glucose-powered fuel cell is crafted out of silicon and platinum, using standard semiconductor fabrication processes. The platinum acts as a catalyst, stripping electrons from glucose molecules, similar to how aerobic animal cells (such as our own) strip electrons from glucose with enzymes and oxygen. The glucose fuel cell products hundreds of microwatts (i.e. tenths of a milliwatt), which is a surprisingly large amount — it’s comparable to the solar cell on a calculator, for example. This should be more than enough power to drive complex computers — or perhaps more interestingly, trigger clusters of neurons in the brain. In theory, this glucose fuel cell will actually deprive your brain of some power, though in practice you probably won’t notice (or you might find yourself growing hungry sooner…)
Size-wise, the MIT engineers have created glucose-powered fuel cells that are as large as 64x64mm (2.5in), or as small as just a few millimeters. In the picture above, the large yellow square is a single 64x64mm fuel cell, and it’s surrounded by a bunch of smaller versions. Presumably the largest fuel cell produces the most electricity — but at that size, I don’t think it would fit inside a human brain at least. You could quite easily implant a few dozen of the smallest fuel cells in your spinal cord, however.
This discovery is exciting for two main reasons: a) The fuel cell is completely synthetic, and b) they can be produced using low-tech, decades-old chip fabrication processes. Glucose fuel cells have been created before, primarily to power pacemakers, but they used biological enzymes (like your own cells) — and enzymes need to be replenished. Platinum, however, will happily strip electrons from glucose indefinitely. Platinum also has the added bonus of being very biocompatible — i.e. your immune system doesn’t try to reject it. Cerebrospinal fluid is almost entirely devoid of cells, too — it’s basically just a glucose-rich fluid that insulates your brain and spine. Because there are no cells, this means there are no white blood cells that can reject the fuel cell.
Ultimately, this fuel cell will hopefully be used to power implanted, ultra-low-power devices that sit inside your skull or spinal cord. In actual fact, MIT’s research into this fuel cell was led by Rahul Sarpeshkar, who happens to be one of the leaders of hybrid digital-biological devices. So far, implanted devices have mostly been tethered to a wall socket — but now, Sarpeshkar’s group can begin work on implants that are completely self-powered.
Now read about a brain-computer interface that bypasses paralyzed limbs, or decoding the brain to integrate a bionic eye
Read more at MIT or download the paper at PLoS ONE (non-paywalled!)
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-14 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-14 06:44 pm (UTC)Как насчет прямой телесвязи с сетями и коллегами, перевод со всё-на-вся, ориентация и расчёты. Усиление мышечной и мозговой скорострельности...
Про войну не говорим.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-14 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-15 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-15 07:06 pm (UTC)Я к сожалению там абсолютный не спец.
НО кое что слышал о лекарствах по селективному запуску ряда внутриклеточных процессов.
Просто фантастично.
Уже сейчас реально лечат то, что в принципе раньше не лечилось.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 09:39 am (UTC)