this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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107
Artificial Neurons Communicate Directly With Living Cells (spectrum.ieee.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by flango@lemmy.eco.br to c/technology@lemmy.world
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Artificial neurons that mimic the brain's efficiency are here, using 1/10th the voltage and 1/100th the power of others.

These neurons can, for the first time, process information from living cells without an intermediary device amplifying or modulating the signals, the researchers say.

While some artificial neurons already exist, they require electronic amplification to sense the signals our bodies produce, explains Jun Yao, who works on bioelectronics and nanoelectronics at UMass Amherst. The amplification inflates both power usage and circuit complexity, and so counters efficiencies found in the brain.

The neuron created by Yao’s team can understand the body’s signals at their natural amplitude of around 0.1 volts. This is “highly novel,” says Bozhi Tian, a biophysicist who studies living bioelectronics at the University of Chicago and was not involved in the work. This work “bridges the long-standing gap between electronic and biological signaling” and demonstrates interaction between artificial neurons and living cells that Tian calls “unprecedented.”

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[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Honestly? Terrifying. Not to get all "mark of the beast"y or anything like that, but they're not going to have to force us to get brain-computer interface chips, people are going to line up for them and pay for it willingly. And then after a while, actual thought crimes become a real thing. I don't want to live in a world where I have to worry about the encryption level of my brain. I don't want Dear Leader, whoever that may be at the time, knowing if I like them.

10 years ago, this would have exited the hell out of me. Now? All I can think about is how fucking terrifying it is.

[–] Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

It's just a tool. Increased utility can always be misused, but that is a poor reason to delay advancement. Yes, we should be aware of potential abuses of better technology. But we should use this awareness as a tailwind to propel us to the greatest number of beneficial discoveries that we can.

[–] jaykrown@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most people don't even like the idea of wearing smart glasses or smart watches, and you expect them to line up and pay for brain chips? 🥴

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Most people on Lemmy, maybe. The smart watches are popular as shit, as far as I've seen. I rarely see someone without one out in public

And on top of that, a device to track your steps that you wildly overpay for isn't exactly comparable to a full "I can think and know all the info on Wikipedia" sci-fi future of computer-brain interfaces. I absolutely do see the brand-loyal fanatics signing up for Google Grey Matter or the apple iBrain

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Wow it's really cool, there's potential to do many things, such as making a processor chip based on proteins instead of silicon. Obviously not for replacing current CPUs but to do analog computing - the kind of computing that both artificial AND natural intelligence do - with really low power. According to the experiments, 1/10th of the voltage (about 0.1V), which means 1/100 of the power since power comes from voltage squared.

As many other cool things we see in spectrum and nature magazines, this is very very far from being a start up and I may never hear from this topic ever again. But it's dang cool how they found a bacteria that produces conductive wires from proteins.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I LOVE BIG BROTHER.

And I'm not saying that because of my recent silicon implants, no, that obviously have nothing to do with it.

I love my country, I love my leader, may it re-reign f-for a mi-million years 😵‍💫

W-what? m-my speech p-pattern sounds like I'm.. I'm b-being remotely con-controlled? No, honey, ofc-course not. 🤖

[–] Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 weeks ago

Oh honey... we don't need artificial neurons for that.