New atificial neuron "wires" sourced from bacterium.

[Maxmars]

It has been an interesting journey...

From many perspectives this development might be a very good step forward...

 In a First, Artificial Neurons Talk Directly to Living Cells (Bacterial nanowires make memristors operate at cellular voltages)

When we make devices to connect to the human body... (or any body for that matter) we have a challenge.

The body's electrical and communication systems is not simply like a wiring problem.  The manner in which neurons, in particular, respond to electrical stimulus naturally, is fluid and harmonic. 

Jamming a device connection there means it has to work as the neuron does... a very tall order to manufacture.

So far what we actually can do is detect and amplify the signals that are being generated... which requires both power amplification and circuitry to accomplish....

Biological "wires" might make the connection more efficient and all around less invasive... creating an actual "biological artificial neuron" rather than those we are using now. They operate normally at the voltages we find in cells.
 

Scientists have been working to engineer a synthetic neuron for decades, chasing after the efficiency of the human brain, which has so far seemed to escape the abilities of electronics.

Yao’s group has designed new artificial neurons that mimic how biological neurons sense and react to electrical signals. They use sensors to monitor external biochemical changes and memristors—essentially resistors with memory—to emulate the action-potential process.

As voltage from the external biochemical events increases, ions accumulate and begin to form a filament across a gap in the memristor—which in this case was filled with protein nanowires. If there is enough voltage, the filament completely bridges the gap. Current shoots through the device and the filament then dissolves, dispersing the ions and stopping the current. The complete process mimics a neuron’s action potential.

The team tested its artificial neurons by connecting them to cardiac tissue. The devices measured a baseline amount of cellular contraction, which did not produce enough signal to cause the artificial neuron to fire. Then the researchers took another measurement after the tissue was dosed with norepinephrine—a drug that increases how frequently cells contract. The artificial neurons triggered action potentials only during the medicated trial, proving that they can detect changes in living cells. 

Progress takes time.

But this seems a nice potentially good area of development.


Now as for what commerce will do with it?  Don't get me started.

[covent]

Now as for what commerce will do with it?  Don't get me started.

Never mind commerce! Wait till it's militarised. That'll give it some real commercial depth.

I reckon it will be trialed and then hailed for reversing dementias. Then, when the streets are crawling with berserker grannies, somebody in the polity will cry "we just did not know".

Now, if something like this would only be suitable for and restricted to, healing torn ligament, I'd say go for it.

[Tecate]

How about reversing MS? How about treating ALS??

This could be fanfuckingtastic and far reaching!!


Tecate

[IgnorantGod]

Never mind commerce! Wait till it's militarised. That'll give it some real commercial depth.

[...]

I disagree, it's the other way around. Techs are militarized before they are commercialized.

Hence, its military use has probably been evaluated already. I'd say if it gets to public use, it would then be the "testing" phase, and to collect relevant data.