New proton-based chips could let machines control living things … like you, for example

Source: Dateline Zero

University of Washington scientists have just crossed another major threshold between humans and machines: they’ve built a transistor that uses protons instead of electrons. Their ultimate goal is to create devices that can communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them.

Amara D. Angelica wrote at KurzweilAi.net that the ultimate goal is to create devices that can “communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them — a ‘first step towardbionanoprotonics.’” Yes, that means creating devices that can remotely interact with, or even control, living things. Long term possibilities might include devices that can re-wire a human brain.

From an article at Washington.edu:

Devices that connect with the human body’s processes are being explored for biological sensing or for prosthetics, but they typically communicate using electrons, which are negatively charged particles, rather than protons, which are positively charged hydrogen atoms, or ions, which are atoms with positive or negative charge.

“So there’s always this issue, a challenge, at the interface – how does an electronic signal translate into an ionic signal, or vice versa?” said lead author Marco Rolandi, a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering. “We found a biomaterial that is very good at conducting protons, and allows the potential to interface with living systems.”

While I don’t doubt that something like this would allow for much better robotic limbs, or more efficient bionic eyes, or other devices; this could also allow for some scary technology. DARPA, for example, has already been working on mind-controlling helmets — you know, just in case a member of the military has moral objections to something.

In September of last year, Dr. William J. Tyler, an assistant professor of life sciences at ASU, proudly wrote at the DoD’s ‘Armed With Science’ blog about how his lab had “engineered a novel technology which implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery.”

Such technology would benefit tremendously from a chip that can “communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them.” 

Full article at Dateline Zero.