What if the brain could detect its own disease? Researchers have been trying to create a material that “thinks” like the brain does, which would be more sensitive to early signs of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
What if the brain could detect its own disease? Researchers have been trying to create a material that “thinks” like the brain does, which would be more sensitive to early signs of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Thinking is a long way off, but Purdue University and Argonne National Laboratory researchers have engineered a new material that can at least “listen.”
The lingua franca is ionic currents, which help the brain perform a particular reaction, needed for something as basic as sending a signal to breathe. Detecting ions means also detecting the concentration of a molecule, which serves as an indicator of the brain’s health.
In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers demonstrate the ability of a quantum material to automatically receive hydrogen when placed beneath an animal model’s brain slice. Quantum means that the material has electronic properties that both can’t be explained by classical physics, and that give it a unique edge over other materials used in electronics, such as silicon.
Read more at Purdue University
Image: The black rectangle beneath these gold rungs is a new quantum material capable of “listening” to the brain by grabbing atoms, which the brain naturally uses to communicate. (Purdue University image/Hai-Tian Zhang)
