Could a future exist where the brain and artificial intelligence systems communicate as effortlessly as a smartphone connecting to Wi-Fi? This may sound like science fiction, but researchers are taking steps toward that reality. A team from Columbia University, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania has developed a brain–computer interface (BCI) called the Biological Interface System to Cortex (BISC), described in Nature Electronics in a paper titled, “A wireless subdural-contained brain–computer interface with 65,536 electrodes and 1,024 channels.” The device promises ultra-high resolution neural recording and wireless operation in a very small form compared to conventional devices. Current BCIs often rely on larger electronics housed in canisters implanted in the skull or chest, tethered by wires to the brain. These designs increase surgical complexity and risk of tissue damage, but there is a trade-off: invasiveness versus quality. “In electrophysiology, a fundamental trade-off exists between the invasiveness of the recording device and the spatiotemporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio characteristics of the acquired neural signals,” the authors wrote. BISC takes a different approach: a single silicon chip, just 50 μm thick, that can slide “into the space between the brain and the skull, resting on the brain like a piece of wet tissue paper,” said senior author Ken Shepard, PhD, Lau Family professor of electrical engineering at Columbia. “Semiconductor technology has made this possible, allowing the computing power of room-sized computers to now fit in your pocket,” he added. “We are now doing the same for medical…
