Carbon nanotube electrodes are flexible like wet noodles, but researchers have developed a method to implant them in brain tissue. Implanted wires could help patients with neurological diseases and help scientists explore cognitive processes and develop implants to help people to see, to hear and to control artificial limbs.
Rice University researchers have invented a device that uses fast-moving fluids to insert flexible, conductive carbon nanotube fibers into the brain, where they can help record the actions of neurons. Eventually, the researchers said, nanotube-based electrodes could help scientists discover the mechanisms behind cognitive processes and create direct interfaces to the brain that will allow patients to see, to hear or to control artificial limbs.The Rice team's microfluidics-based technique promises to improve therapies that rely on electrodes to sense neuronal…
