Key points from article :
DARPA funded the research toward a wireless brain link.
$8 million funding for Rice University neuro engineers.
Wireless headset capable of "reading" and "writing" brain activity help restore lost sensory function.
MOANA (magnetic, optical and acoustic neural access) uses light to decode neural activity in one brain.
Magnetic fields encode that activity in another brain in less than one-twentieth of a second.
"We could stimulate lab-grown cells with magnetic fields and magnetic nanoparticles." - Jacob Robinson, lead investigator.
Second round funding will allow to demonstrate this system work in a real brain, beginning with rodents.
If successful, the team could begin working with human patients within two years.
"Most immediately, we're thinking about ways we can help patients who are blind," Robinson.
"Stimulating parts of the brain associated with vision can give those patients a sense of vision."
