almquist@brahms.udel.edu (Squish) (04/23/91)
Here is the THIRD article in a continual string of HOT info about the potential, better yet, the inevidable growth of VR. I have been receiving positive responses to my article reviews - if anyone out there has an info and/or articles, please share with the rest of us! The article "Biochip Revolution" by Kathleen McAuliffe, 1981 discusses how we are pushing the silicon limit (or will be VERY SHORTLY!). Now that silicon is almost tapped out, whats next? How about biochips. NO, you aren't dreaming. Research has been done and is BEING done on biochips. These implants will mesh directly with the human nervous system, biochip implants may restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, replace spinal nerves, increase human memory beyond belief, increase ones mental capacity (how about adding MIPS to your brain (-:). Sound like science fiction? Well, as of 1981 a small company in Rockville, MD (yeah! my home town!) known as EMV Associates have been working on this potential AMAZING techno-breakthrough! According to them, "Our aim is to build a computer that can design and assemble itself by using the same mechanism common to all living things. This mechanism is the coding of genetic information in the self-replicating DNA Double helix and the translation of this chemical code into the structure of protein." In addition, an individual eqipped with a biochip implant could survive after the host has perished. This implant could then be moved to an awaiting host - immortality anyone? Bethesda Research Laboratories, DNA Science INC, E.F. Hutton, Paribas (a French financial firm), and Mitsui Corporation have all becoming primary funding parties for EMV Associates. This is not a flash in the frying pan outfit. In addition to these funders, EMV has also been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to test the first living interface between an electrode-studded chip and the brain. The article states that "a little over a decade ago (that would make it late 1960s) British scientists reported that a blind woman could see phosphenes, bright flashes of light, when they touched her exposed brain with an electrified wire. Since then, there has been work enabling blind patients to see shapes, letter, and even short sentences in Braille. Impressive? At EMV, they're hope is to produce an image with roughly the resolution of a staticky black-and-white TV. The major stumbling block has been the electrodes that are needed to stimulate the brain. Electrodes are currently TOO big - instead of exciting a neuron, they stimulate bundles of neurons due to the compartive sizes (ie. electrodes are mucho bigger). EMV "intends to cover the electrodes with a layer of protein, drilling thousands of holes through the coating with an electron beam. The holes will be covered with polylysine, a cellular glue, and be attached to embryonic brain neurons. According to plan, the nervers on the implanted electrode will then grow into the visual cortex of the brain, forming links with individual neurons in the patient's cortex." Each electrode will produce up to 100,000 phosphenes, 6 million in all. Kinda like mounting a tiny video screen on your brain - you'd wear glasses that would in essence be a video camera. The camera would plug into you head (I love saying that "plug into you head"!). According to the article, if all goes well, EMV expects to have a prototype to test in ten years. Well, the article was written in 1981 - its now 1991. According to MY math, thats about ten years. So, where is it? EMV in 1981 did work on a pilot study. Using a coated glass slide with a monolayer of protein and a protective material known as a resist, an electron beam was used to dig trenches about half the width of a red blood cell - similar to cutting silicon. This was then dipped into a silver solution that created fine streaks of microscopic wires. This work was done by Dr. Jacob Hanker of the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. Thus, the feasibility of a microchip/biochip was born. Using this concept, we can now venture into 3-dimensions. "They (biochips) open up the possibility of three-dimensional circuits, increased speed, reduced energy consumption, and ultraminiaturization that can reach a million billion elements per cubic centimeter. On this scale, all the memory elements of EVERY computer manufactured TO THIS DAY (1981) could be contained in a cube one centimeter on a side." Think you might be able to squeeze this into your brain? In addition to EMV, Genex Corporation, Chapel Hill, and the Naval Research Laboratory in MD are working on making biochips a reality. SO, does anyone have any further information about any research going on in this field? I've reviewed an article about how to do sound in VR using a neurophone, how to do tactile feedback using the simple mechanism used to read text, and now, we know how to link the brain to a computer. I think we all can see the potential of these devices for mankind and VR. Hmmmm, maybe Gibson and his wetware weren't too far fetched? - Mike Almquist (almquist@brahms.udel.edu) Now all we need is the software to use all these wonderful devices!