I think the glucose present in the cerebrospinal fluid is there for a reason. Probably not to power implants. PS: I'm not a doctor.
Have you ever tasted cerebrospinal fluid? The glucose is definitely there for a reason.
MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
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Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#12I think the glucose present in the cerebrospinal fluid is there for a reason. Probably not to power implants. PS: I'm not a doctor.
Actually, I'm not sure it is. Not for an energy related reason anyway. I'd wager the main reason the the glucose is present is due to osmolarity when the CSF is being created from the blood. Also realize that the CSF has a high turnover rate, something like 3-4 times per day, so that glucose is being replenished readily. I doubt this chip uses much glucose in comparison (plus, they've probably thought of this).
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#13Very interesting... Only a few short years ago this entire article would have been science fiction. From the article: "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." I wonder, and am curious to learn more about, how much of this process is really understood by modern science.
Quite well understood actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_transport_chain One of the fundamental biochemical pathways and required reading for entry level life-sciences degree programs.
We can have a better handle on what happens inside a given cell than the complex web of cause and effect that happens between populations of different kinds of cells and their environment.
What goes on inside your gut is still more of a mystery than what goes on inside your cells.
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#14I keep thinking "You will be assimilated" ... and it's simultaneously a scary idea and strangely desirable.
I keep thinking "You will be assimilated" You're using the future tense. Sorry, but it's already happened. and it's simultaneously a scary idea and strangely desirable. Again, lots of precedent, and it's historical precedent.
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Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#15Could this be scaled up and used for weight loss?
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#16Could this be scaled up and used for weight loss?
By what mechanism? Capturing and stripping the glucose before it's digested naturally? Seems a bit roundabout since the weight we want to lose (primarily fat) is really just an energy store in the body in the first place.
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#17Anyone else read this title and think "Finally they've figured a way to let us have hard drives connected to our brains" or was it just me?:-D The technology is certainly interesting...
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#18These researchers are helping to remove one of the big problems with BMI chips - the wire protruding out of the head.
But these BMI chips still suffer from one other major problem. Over the course of a few months to a few years, scar tissue will start to grow around the chips. This tissue not only interferes with the electrodes on the chip, but also endangers the living tissue around the chip. The chips eventually have to be removed.
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#19Anyone else read this title and think "Finally they've figured a way to let us have hard drives connected to our brains" or was it just me?:-D The technology is certainly interesting...
Funny that you would say this just as I am dealing with the fallout of a failing drive...
Re: MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces
#20These researchers are helping to remove one of the big problems with BMI chips - the wire protruding out of the head. But these BMI chips still suffer from one other major problem. Over the course of a few months to a few years, scar tissue will start to grow around the chips. This tissue not only interferes with the electrodes on the chip, but also endangers the living tissue around the chip. The chips eventually ha…
That's not necessarily true, depending on how the chips are implanted. We've been putting chunks of metal into people for 80 years and have gotten pretty good at it.