Scientists (actual scientists, not politicians in lab coats) now say they have developed an implant that can listen to your brain and adjust on the fly to ease Parkinson's symptoms.
The fight against Parkinson's disease, a debilitating illness that impacts nearly 90,000 Americans every year, may have reached another level, with researchers at the University of California (San Francisco) building a "closed-loop" system that uses AI to monitor brain activity and adjust deep brain stimulation in real time.
Rather than traditional deep brain stimulation (which is a bit like that friend who just talks all … the … time) this new approach is more of a conversationalist. It listens, senses your motor symptoms, and then tailors the brain stimulation in response, and has reduced symptoms by 50% in patients who've been battling Parkinson's for over a decade.
Lauren Hammer, a neurologist from the University of Pennsylvania who helped develop this technology, said the adaptive algorithms enable "dynamic change," meaning the implant can respond "second by second, minute by minute."
Megan Frankowski, program director for the NIH's BRAIN Initiative, pointed out that getting both patients and doctors on board will be a serious hurdle, but the potential here is huge.
And, according to The New York Times, this technology could be available in the next couple of years.
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