Category Archives: Newsworthy

Synthetic Diamond Manages Power

Power delivery using semiconductor devices is increasing at a rapid pace. This is evident from different forms of power delivered, whether it is controlled power through power inverters, or RF power through amplifiers. Power is necessary to operate nearly everything, such as for alternative forms of energy generation, electric vehicles, radar systems, cellular base stations and even smartphones. However, semiconductor devices need to dissipate the heat they generate, and this poses a stringent challenge for power and thermal management.

Such high-power semiconductor devices are now using a new technology in the form of GaN-on-diamond wafers and synthetic diamond heat-spreaders. The reason behind this is the excellent thermal conductivity of diamond, the highest of any material. At room temperatures, diamond conducts heat about five times better than copper does.

Any semiconductor material can use diamond heat spreaders and these lower the temperature of the semiconductor gate junction by almost 30 percent. In addition, the use of GaN-on-diamond wafers helps lower the temperatures of GaN devices further. With the gate-junction temperature going down by almost 50 percent, GaN-on-diamond devices can handle more than three times the power density than similar GaN-on-SiC can.

Manufacturers use the technique of plasma-assisted microwave CVD or Chemical Vapor Deposition for synthesizing diamond heat spreaders. With this method of growing the synthetic diamond, manufacturers make freestanding diamond wafers up to 140 mm in diameter and nearly 1 mm thick. The wafers have thermal conductivities higher than 2000W/mK, which is five times that of copper. By using microwave CVD for growing diamonds, manufacturers can engineer the properties of the diamond wafers precisely, giving them a range of thermal conductivities. This allows them to offer different cost to performance ratios for matching the specific needs of any application.

When using metalized diamond heat spreaders, manufacturers attach them to the bottom of the semiconductor die. Since they use as thin a layer of solder as is possible for attaching the heat spreader, the diamond lies within 100 to 300 microns of the gate junctions of the device. The diamond heat spreader distributes the heat equally and effectively in both lateral and vertical directions. Heat spreading in the lateral direction is particularly important for RF power amplifiers, as they typically form hot spots of up to 1 micron in diameter with intense heat density.

Manufacturers need to keep the metallization of the die and the heat spreader thin – to the extent of a few hundreds of nanometers. Metallization of the diamond has to be done carefully using a carbide-forming metal as the first layer. The solder layer used to attach the heat spreader must also be thin, preferably lower than 10 microns. With optimal integration into a package, diamond heat spreaders typically help to reduce the gate junction temperatures by nearly 30 percent, when compared to what ceramic packages do that are not using diamond heat spreaders.

The GaN-on-diamond substrates now offer new thermal management tools for GaN semiconductor devices. The reduced thermal resistance of GaN-on-diamond and diamond heat spreaders allows simpler, less expensive thermal management systems. This has a favorable impact on cooling complexity and expenses involved, also leading to better lifetimes of the entire system.

Raspberry Pi Helps Marine Ecology with Autonomous Recordings

The health of marine ecosystems is linked to that of all living beings on Earth. Around the world, people are waking up to this truth and making efforts to find out what goes on in the murky depths of the oceans. One of the foremost indicators of the health of oceans is determining the population size of Cetacean species, which includes porpoises, dolphins and whales.

However, that is easily said than done. Over the centuries, man has recklessly hunted these gentle giants to the point of almost near extinction. Those left over, are in the endangered list. Conservation status and population size of these mostly endangered species is only possible by collecting extensive amounts of data about them.

Researchers are carrying out studies on the ecological impact of industrial activities such as human-generated noise on the coasts. A team from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil is carrying out underwater acoustic monitoring. They quantify the human-generated noise while studying sound generated by cetaceans. Water being an efficient medium for transmission of sound, such research is useful because water allows easy detection of the tones and clicks cetaceans produce, even when they are hundreds of kilometers away.

The team first went about their research using commercial underwater recorders. However, they found these to be expensive and inflexible. Almost all the underwater recorders had proprietary hardware and software, which they found impossible or difficult to modify. Therefore, the team built a flexible, low-cost autonomous hydrophone recorder based on the Raspberry Pi or RBPi, an affordable single board computer. They published a paper about their effort in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

The system is an underwater sound recorder. The entire unit consists of a 50 cm PVC case with 9.5 mm thick walls, closed on both ends. One end has a protective cage made of stainless steel, and this houses the actual hydrophone or an underwater microphone. All the other electronics is located within the PVC case, which is sturdy enough to withstand pressures up to 10 bar. Pressure-chamber testing establishes this as equivalent to pressures experienced almost 100 m underwater.

After signal conditioning, the analog output from the hydrophone passes into a USB linked analog to digital converter, which generates the digital data corresponding to the analog signal. The RBPi stores the digital information along with an appropriate time stamp. Five ordinary D-sized Duracell batteries power the RBPi and there is adequate room within the PVC enclosure to add four more such packs in parallel. Power from the batteries reaches the RBPi via a power management module. The RBPi also includes a real-time clock for generating the time stamp.

The team monitored marine traffic including dolphin and whale population on the eastern and southeastern coast of Brazil. They used their own RBPi based hydrophone recorders and these worked satisfactorily. According to the results of their tests, the devices recorded for two weeks continuously when powered with five battery packs. If they recorded for one hour each day, the researchers estimate the five batteries would power the recorder for over four months of recording.

Holograms Can Improve Electronic Devices

Multiplicative use of sensors is generating huge amounts of data calling for ever-increasing storage requirements. Researchers are looking for newer memory devices capable of storing substantially more than the capability of current devices. Now a team of researchers has found new holographic memory devices that can offer unprecedented data storage capabilities in electronic devices.

Devices such as the holographic memory typically use optical beams to store data. The newer devices use spin waves instead. Spin waves are a collective oscillation of spins in magnetic materials and using them is advantageous in two ways. Spin wave devices are compatible with the conventional electronic devices – no need to convert electrons to light. Additionally, these operate at much shorter wavelengths compared to optical devices, which allows for manufacturing smaller electronic devices with greater storage capacity.

Researchers from the Russian Academy of Science and the Riverside Bourns College of Engineering, University of California, demonstrated the experimental feasibility of applying holographic techniques. They created a device, a magnonic holographic memory, by applying holographic techniques they developed in optics to magnetic structures. They were able to combine the advantages of wave-based information transfer with the magnetic data storage capabilities.

According to Alexander Khitun, the lead researcher and a research professor at UC riverside, the results of the experiment has thrown open a new field of research. This could profoundly affect the development of new memory and logic devices. The researchers have submitted a paper describing their findings to the journal Applied Physics Letters for publication.

Most people know of holography as being associated with driver’s license or paper currency where images are made from light. This technique is based on the wave nature of light. It uses interfering waves such as those between the object beam and the coherent background. However, this is only a small application of holography.

In 1940s, electron microscopes were the first to use holograms. After about a decade, optical holographic images became popular with the advent of lasers. Since then, wave interference techniques to produce holograms have significantly advanced. This includes microwave holography used in radar systems and acoustic holography used in seismic applications.

Research work related to holography has revealed it as a future data storing technology with enormous capacity for storing data along with the ability to read and write huge amounts of data simultaneously. For nine years, Khitun was trying to develop spin wave based logic circuits similar to those used in computers.

However, last year, Khitun finally decided it might not be necessary for the new device to replace the electronic circuits in a computer. Rather, the device could be made to complement the circuits. This was a critical moment for Khitun.

As outlined in their paper, the researchers conducted an experiment using a prototype device consisting of a 2-bit holographic memory. They aligned a pair of magnets symbolizing the memory elements, in various positions on the magnetic waveguides.

The magnetic field from the magnets affects the spin waves that propagate through the waveguide. At room temperature, when the researchers applied spin waves interference they got a clear picture, in which they were able to recognize the magnetic states of the magnets.

Graphene Metal Sandwich Improves Electronics

Heat conducting properties of the metal Copper are well known. However, scientists have been able to improve this property even further. By creating a sandwich of graphene with copper, scientists have found that the heat conducting properties of copper are strongly enhanced. Expectedly, this discovery could lead to further downscaling of electronic products.

This pioneering discovery is the work of two professors – Alexander A. Balandin and Konstantin S. Novoselov. Balandin is a professor of electrical engineering at the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Novoselov is a professor of physics at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Both are corresponding authors for the paper they have published in the journal Nano Letters.

In their experiments, the researchers added a one-atom thick graphene layer on both sides of a copper film. The graphene layer had highly desirable mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. The researchers found that the addition of graphene layers on the two sides of the copper film increased the heat conducting properties of the sandwich by up to 24 percent.

According to Balandin, who initially discovered the unusual heat conducting properties of graphene in 2013, the enhancement of the ability of copper to conduct heat was an important discovery. Hybrid copper-graphene interconnects in electronic chips could now be made much smaller.

Copper is the most popular metal used for semiconductor interconnects and it replaced aluminum because of its better electrical conductivity. Layering copper with graphene and increasing the heat conducting properties of copper, therefore, became an important factor for the electronic industry.

Manufacturers tend to downscale the size of interconnects and transistors in computer chips with the intention of increasing the number of transistors therein. This puts an enormous strain on the performance of the copper interconnects they use. Downscaling had reached a point where there is little room for further improvement. Therefore, manufacturers were actively seeking improved interconnect structures with better conduction properties for current and heat.

Initially, even the researchers were surprised at the significant improvement in the thermal conduction properties of copper film despite the thickness of the graphene coating being only one atom thick. However, they soon realized that the improvement was not from the graphene acting as an additional heat-conducting channel. Rather, the improvement came about as changes occurred in the copper’s Nano- and microstructure because of the graphene layer deposition.

Researchers used microscopes to examine the grain sizes within the copper film both before and after adding graphene. They found that the high temperature deposition of graphene, in vapor form, stimulated the growth of grain sizes in the copper film. Ultimately, it was found the larger grain sizes in the copper coated with graphene that caused the improvement in heat conduction.

Another finding of the research was the improvement in heat conduction of copper was limited to thin copper films alone. This is a significant find since the future copper interconnects will be scaling down to the nanometers range. A nanometer is one-thousandth of a micrometer. Balandin and his team will be researching the heat conduction properties in copper films of nanometer thickness coated with graphene.

Neo Smartpen N2 Connects with Bluetooth

Although computers and keyboards have taken out much of the efforts of writing, some situations still demand we keep this skill alive. Then, some people are unwilling to give up the feeling of writing with a pen to pounding on a keyboard. Engineers have tried to modernize the humble writing instrument with the Bluetooth pen of Livescribe. Now, an improved Smartpen N2 is in the market.

Neo Smartpen N2 has a sleeker design compared to that of Livescribe. According to the manufacturer, the pen has a shape users will find more comfortable and it is lighter than most smartpens in the market. Without the cap, Neo Smartpen N2 is only 22gms as against the Livescribe, which weighs 34gms. Although the difference is not much, to someone who writes extensively with a pen, this could count for a lot.

An ARM 9 dual-core Processor powers the Smartpen N2, which sports a built-in 90MB NAND flash drive. The pen connects via Bluetooth to a tablet or phone. However, it works even without them. N2 has a built-in camera that captures 120 pictures-per-second while recording about 1,000 pages of notes to store in its memory. Later, you can synchronize this content over to another device.

To conserve battery, Smartpen N2 turns itself off automatically when it detects idle time and turns on to be ready for writing. This convenient feature helps to conserve battery and the pen can write for about five continuous hours before it has to be recharged. A full recharge takes about two hours.

The entire Smartpen N2 writing system has three parts. The first is the pen itself, to be followed with the special paper, which records the motion of the pen. Then there is the app, which translates these motions into an image on the tablet’s screen. The app can also send the notes to popular services such as Dropbox or Evernote. Neo Notes app is available for free for Android and iOS phones and tablets.

Both Livescribe 3 and Smartpen N2 translate their ink notes scrawled on special paper for capturing them in digital form. However, the Equil Smartpen 2 uses a sensor that you can clip onto the top of any kind of paper you are writing on. While both Equil and Neo N2 are cross-platform compatible, apps available for Android and iOS, Livescribe 3 remains an iOS-only device.

Apart from recording written notes in the form of images, Neo N2 can also record voice memos in real-time, simultaneously as you write. Other features of this amazing pen include translating features that convert handwritten notes into text, after you have selected the language. Additionally, you only have to draw a check mark on the mail icon in the corner of your page and the app will email the page attached as a PDF. At the same time, the app will synchronize any new notes you make automatically to your Evernote account.

The only thing limiting the appeal of Neo Smartpen N2 is its need for special paper. Therefore, this is a device for serious writers only and not meant for scribblers.

Very Clean Recordings with Olympus VP-10

Recording voices at press conferences can be very disappointing. Sometimes, the voices registered on the handheld audio recorder are not loud enough or they are muffled because of clothes rustling. According to Olympus, their pocket-friendly, portable audio recorder takes care of both issues.

Olympus VP-10, weighing only 37gms and with dimensions of 12.7×1.7×1.7cms, has 4GB of internal memory. According to the company, this tiny portable recorder can store 1,620 hours of audio. On the other end of VP-10 is a full-sized USB plug with a dual function – to transfer the recording to a computer as well as charge the AAA-sized NiMH battery within the recorder. The full-sized USB plug also means no special USB cable is necessary to be carried in the travel bag.

While recording, the VP-10 uses a voice balancer function. This works like an ALC or automatic level control to record quiet speakers with clarity in multiple speaker situations, while lowering the levels for those with a strong voice. In addition to the noise-cancellation algorithm, Olympus has provided the VP-10 with an Anti-Rustle Filter technology.

Interviewers use a portable microphone recorder during conferences. When placed inside a pocket or under a coat lapel, the microphone produces annoying brushing sounds as it rubs against clothing. Olympus claims its Anti-Rustle Filter technology has the intelligence to cut out the rustling sounds and record only the voice of the speaker.

Although you can turn off the power separately, the VP-10 has a special one-touch recording mode to start recording immediately at the beginning of an important conversation. When taking notes from the device, you can use the handy transcription mode to start or stop the playback. This allows you to automatically playback the last 3 seconds of what you have captured.

The VP-10 comes with four recording scenes and you can easily tweak the audio capture to match a specific recording environment. For example, use the Pocket mode for recording a wide range of voices with the recorder inside your jacket or shirt breast pocket. The other three are Dictation, Conference and Meeting modes and they help to achieve flawless, high-quality recordings in respective conditions.

With an overall recording frequency range of 50Hz to 17KHz, this tiny portable recorder can record in PCM, MP3 or WMA file formats. For monitoring the playback privately, there is an earphone jack conveniently placed at the top of the recorder. Public airing is also possible through an in-built 90mW dynamic speaker.

Two omni-directional stereo microphones embedded within VP-10 capture sound securely from sources surrounding you. You may keep the recorder in your pocket or clipped to your notebook, the recording is high in quality and contains low noise.

VP-10 arranges its recordings by date, which makes it easy and convenient to locate a file. A small LCD allows selection from the menu. The Date Search function when used with the Intro Playback function is a very useful feature – the recorder replays the first few seconds of the file, allowing you to easily search for a specific file.

3D Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner for Improved Security

Most people are familiar with the biometric sensors used in offices and other places for checking fingerprints. So far, these fingerprint sensors were flat and sensed only 2D images of the surface of your finger. Now, researchers at the University of California, Davis and Berkeley have an improved ultrasonic 3D fingerprint sensor that measures not only a volumetric image of the ridges on fingers, but also measures the tissues beneath the finger’s skin. That makes it almost impossible to spoof.

Most smartphones now sport a fingerprint sensor to verify the authenticity of its user. Apple first introduced this technology in 2013, when it incorporated the fingerprint scanner in its iPhone 5s. Unless you have just come back from swimming, the sensor was accurate enough, and now, many other smartphones use it.

However, most of these sensors are of the capacitive type, and subject to serious security leaks. For example, you can easily fool it by placing a printed image of your fingerprint on top of the sensor. This is because the sensing is only in two dimensions. That is why the 3D fingerprint sensor is assuming such importance.

Using low-depth ultrasound, Professor David Horsley and his team has now overcome this issue. Ultrasound images the valleys and ridges of the finger’s surface and a part of the tissue under it in three dimensions. The main reasons why portable gadgets manufacturers are interested in this technology is its ultra-compact size and the capability to operate with a supply of only 1.8V.

Inspired by sophisticated medical equipment, the technology for the low-depth ultrasound technology for measuring fingerprints started to come together in 2007. This was when the researchers were working with PMUTs or Piezoelectric Micro-machined Ultrasonic Transducer arrays. Later on, they found this array to be a good fit for sensing fingerprints.

The group built their imager by embedding the PMUT arrays within a chip and integrating it. This technology is similar to the MEMS or micro-electromechanical systems that today’s smartphones already use. Using MEMS is very effective for accelerometers, gyroscopes and microphones.

According to Prof. Horsley, the chip is made from two wafers. One of the wafers contains the ultrasound parts, while the other carries the second circuit to take care of the signal processing. After bonding the two wafers, the MEMs wafer part is shaved off partially to expose the ultrasonic transducers.

The researchers explain that collection of the ultrasonic images follows the same method as that of medical ultrasound. From the chip’s surface, the transducers first emit a pulse of ultrasound and then process the echoes returning from the valleys and ridges on the surface of the finger.

Scanning a finger in 3D makes the mechanism more secure and increases the challenge several folds for those trying to get around it. As the world moves towards mobile payments, such secure systems will assume increasing importance.

When manufactured in high volumes and with modern manufacturing techniques, OEMs can expect the cost of the sensor to dip to very low levels. Apart from making better fingerprint scanners, this technology is likely to find use in personal health monitoring and low-cost ultrasonic medical diagnostics as well.

Leila and Holus – New Holographic Platforms

Who can forget that famous scene from Star Wars, where R2D2 plays a holographic video message in midair showing Princess Leila pleading for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi? While technology has not yet progressed sufficiently to achieve the Star War’s feat, recent advances in the ability to control light is opening up new possibilities for displaying 3D images.

Leila, an appropriately named company owned by David Fattal, has demonstrated a 2×2 inch holomodule as its first product. This LCD module is a 3D display capable of producing full-color 3D images and videos. You do not need special glasses to see these images and videos and they are visible from 64 different viewpoints.

Leila’s technology is based on an invention by Fattal. It utilizes advances in the ability to control the path of light at Nano-scale levels. Fattal calls this the multiview backlight and he developed this concept while working as a researcher in HP Labs. The Nano-scale structures are actually diffraction gratings.

Diffraction gratings act as tiny mirrors to reflect light in precise directions depending on the angle of the arriving beam. In practice, gratings are used to send light through cables for transmitting data. Fattal decided to use gratings to send light in prescribed directions in space, creating the basics of a holographic 3D display.

With Leila, Fattal has managed to refine the initial design for better image quality. The hologram comes out of a conventional LCD. Leila replaces the LCD backlight, which is typically made of plastic, with a more sophisticated light guide incorporating Nano-scale gratings. That means smartphones and other mobile devices will soon possess the ability to show 3D images.

On the other hand, Holus is an interactive holographic tabletop platform from the Canadian startup H+ Technology. Holus makes use of Pepper’s Ghost, an optical illusion, to reflect hidden objects in a manner that makes people believe the objects are present in the room with them. Therefore, rather than looking at a TV placed in a corner of the room, the future family will be sitting around a Holus box in the middle of the room. The Holus is a see-through tabletop box and it presents a tiny 3D digital world and allows you to interact with it.

Holus contains a see-through Plexiglas prism and projects four images of the same object onto the walls of the prism. Therefore, irrespective of the side of the prism you are on, these images collate to form a single 3D object, which you can see at different angles.

According to H+, you can feed any digital content from a computer into Holus to convert and project it as a 3D hologram-like image. You can also use motion-tracking technology to interact with the image, such as a gesture input device or a traditional gamepad. It is also possible to use the Brain Sensor electroencephalography headset from Emotiv.

The Halo tabletop box creates a social campfire experience in the home, as family members can cluster around the 3D display system, while interacting with it and with one another. On a wider scale, natural visual interaction with complex 3D images and digital content can help education immensely. Such holographic presentations will also help business activities.

IDEASTICK: Windows Goes Into Your Pocket Now

At last, users of the Operating System Windows will also be able to enjoy the simple portability that Linux users already have. Lenovo has come up with an oversized memory stick – the new Stick 300. Actually, instead of being just an oversized memory stick, Stick 300 is full-fledged Windows PC. Although the specifications are rather low-end, the ideastick from Lenovo makes it up with being portable and having a more appealing price tag.

Obviously, the tiny chassis cannot offer an exciting hardware. However, Stick 300 runs on an Intel Atom Processor, Z3735F, with 2GB of RAM and has 32GB of storage. And, with the ideastick Stick 300, you can transform your HDMI-TV or monitor into a fully functional Windows PC. Since Stick 300 is only 100x38x15mm in dimension, it is portable and affordable. You can easily take it along when on vacations and use it as a media hub.

Initially, Stick 300 will ship with Windows 8.1, but it will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10. You do not need to bother about connectivity, as Stick 300 has both Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 built-in. It also has a micro SD card slot and a tiny speaker.

Stick 300 is comparable to other products in the market. This includes Compute Stick from Intel, which they had released in March and an Ubuntu Linux powered lower-end option. Therefore, if you are in the market looking for an ultra-portable Windows solution, Stick 300 is a simple and functional option.

On its side, the Stick 300 has a USB 2.0 socket, which allows you to use your keyboard and mouse wirelessly; that is, if your monitor or TV is not touch-enabled. Powering up is through a second micro USB port. The hardware included is good enough for browsing the web, watching Netflix and even doing some light gaming. Therefore, instead of lugging along a hefty notebook on the road, you can conveniently carry the Stick 300 and plug it into a TV in a hotel for a spot of catching up.

In comparison, Compute Stick from Intel is also an entire PC crammed inside an HDMI stick, which you can fit in your palm. The Compute Stick instead uses an Intel Atom quad-core processor. It has a full-fledged USB 2.0 port on one side and a micro USB port on the other for powering up. However, the Lenovo Stick 300 is $20 cheaper.

If you can do with somewhat lower specifications, there is another stick with the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS OS on it. Since it has 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage, the Ubuntu stick is less expensive than those from Lenovo or Intel. For keeping it cool, the Ubuntu stick has vents on top and sides. It also has a tiny fan for circulating air.

You may have to use the included HDMI cable to connect the stick to your TV, as most TVs do not have much space surrounding the HDMI socket that will accommodate the width of your portable stick computer. In addition, since all these sticks have only one USB port, you will need a unifying wireless solution – such as from Logitech – to get both your keyboard and mouse connected.

Controlling Robotics Through Brain Waves

Imagine moving things about with nothing more than just your brain waves. This is not some science fiction movie with an exaggerated depiction of an obscure term called Telekinesis – the art of moving matter with thought. Some 15-20 patients have joined studies of brain implants that can convey information from the brain to a computer. These include patients in advanced stages of ALS and those completely or partially paralyzed.

All the patients have undergone similar tests conducted by BrainGate, a closely related study. Some patients, totally unable to move to speak, have so far regained some ability to communicate because of electrodes implanted in their brains. A Georgia company called Neural Signals has developed the electrodes.

In 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration loosened its rules for testing “fully pioneering technologies” such as brain-machine interfaces. Since then, one-third of the patients have undergone surgery for inserting implants into their brains. Other human experiments under way, such as at Caltech, are trying to offer patients autonomous control over Android, the tablet operating system from Google.

Another team, at the Ohio State University is collaborating with Battelle, an R&D organization, for inserting an implant within a patient. They intent to use the brain waves of the patient to control stimulators attached to the arm. According to Battele, They aim to reanimate the paralyzed limb via voluntary control of the patient’s thoughts.

Whenever someone intends to move a limb, a few dozen cells in his or her brain generate electrical activity that can be easily recorded. That gives a fairly accurate picture of what the brain intends to do. Although the brain contains billions of neurons, scientists have been able to sample a couple of hundred of them to get some signals.

Although still experimental, the neural engineering program at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke initially developed the technology to study animals in physiology labs. They have refined this to a point where the technology can be applied to humans as well.

A bundle of wires leading from the human patient’s cranium reaches a bulky rack containing signal processors, amplifiers and computers. The apparatus enables lifelike movements in the dexterous hand and fingers of a nine-pound robotic arm. However, the movements are finicky and somewhat dangerous, breaking frequently because of loose connections.

According to John Donoghue, a neuroscientist at the Brown University leading the BrainGate study, today’s brain-machine interface is similar to that of the first pacemakers. They too had wires punched through the skin, reaching the heart and were connected to carts full of electronics. He says brain-machine interfaces today are at the start of a similar trajectory, and will ultimately reach a stage such as that of the present-day self-contained pacemaker, powered by a long-lasting battery.

Researchers were able to demonstrate practical activities – the tasks of daily living, something that most of us take for granted, such as brushing teeth. They examined the patient’s abilities using the Action Research Arm Test, where the patient scored 17 out of 57 in dexterity tests. This was about similar to results that someone with a severe stroke would have obtained.