Scientists are developing wearable computers that can READ your brain, detect burnout and make you more productive

Scientists are looking to the future of new and more accurate wearable computers to analyze brain activity, diagnose health problems and even increase productivity.

These brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) decipher the electrical activity in the brain that underlies normal human behavior and provide feedback on that brain activity, allowing users to recognize patterns associated with increased attention and productivity.

Tech titans, including Elon Musk and his brain interface startup Neuralink, have invested billions of dollars in developing wearable and implantable brain chips that can do everything from alerting people to threatening burnout, to help paralyzed patients control thoughts. translate into actions performed by machines.

Wearable technology has already entered the market, but has mainly focused on devices that help record brain activity and stop it there, rather than going a step further and providing feedback to restore attention, concentration and creativity.

The next generation of wearable devices will focus on helping diagnose mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, improving mindfulness, detecting and preventing burnout, increasing productivity and controlling devices with the mind.

The hope with wearable brain-computer interface devices is to help people recognize and adjust their brain wave patterns related to focus and attention, and to send feedback when their concentration declines. This will help people learn how to self-regulate and increase their ability to stay focused

A variety of technology startups have developed their own BCIs, including the one in San Francisco Emotional, which sells an electroencephalogram, or EEG, headset to measure small changes in brain activity at different points for $999.

But Emotiv’s products, like other wearable devices on the market, are still primarily intended for neurological data collection, not biofeedback to influence human behavior.

However, Boston-based startup Neurable expects to introduce the first headphones that can monitor brain activity, suggest pause times when the wearer is about to crash, and help them better manage their time and maximize productivity throughout . day.

Neurable co-founder Adam Molnar said of the company’s new Enten headphones: ‘We’ve seen incredible advancements in BCI technology over the past few years, let alone the decade.

‘Ten years ago, a product like Enten did not seem feasible. Now we are witnessing a revolution in the industry where consumer BCI is within reach.”

The most promising wearable BCIs are equipped with sensors called functional near-infrared spectroscopy to detect changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain, a tool for measuring brain activity.

Despite the industry’s great promises, there are still significant technological hurdles that developers will have to overcome. For example, smaller and more powerful sensors will be needed to access lower-quality signals deep in the brain, which are difficult to discern through the skull and hair.

Developers of these devices will also have to deal with the knowledge that few people want to live their lives or spend the workday wearing headphones that resemble medical headgear.

Thousands of people are said to have expressed interest in having one of Elon Musk’s controversial brain chips implanted in their skulls as part of an experimental study on humans.

How it works: The chips are designed to interpret signals produced in the brain and relay information to devices via Bluetooth, with the aim of allowing a participant to control a computer cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts

Implantable devices are also the subject of excitement among prominent tech figures, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, who are banking a multi-million dollar venture to develop a device that inserts tiny electrodes through blood vessels in the body to connect them to the brain, all without drilling through the skull.

And Elon Musk’s controversial Neuralink, which has been investigated for its animal testing practices after reports of more than 1,000 sheep, monkeys, pigs and more dying in the company’s care, launched a recruitment drive for its first human trials in September and said it looking for people with paralysis to test the experimental device as part of a six-year study.

Musk’s vision of a cyborg population will start by asking human subjects “who are willing to have a piece of their skull removed” so that a robot can place a chip in their brains and prove that the technology works in humans.

The implants have so far only been tested on monkeys and pigs.

Musk added that the company had not yet implanted its device in a human, but that its goal was to operate on 11 people next year and more than 22,000 by 2030.

Meanwhile, Neuralink competitor Synchron has already implanted its BCI chip in four Australian subjects with the debilitating muscle wasting disease ALS, which causes severe paralysis.

The company’s implantable sensor, the Stentrode, is inserted through an incision in the neck and inserted into the brain, where it can measure and record electrical signals.

The sensor on the brain is connected by a wire to a transmitter under the skin that sends wireless signals to a computer

The subjects with the implant were able to perform tasks such as emailing, texting, shopping, managing their finances and things like communicating needs with healthcare providers.

They also typed at an average speed of 16.6 characters per minute using the system, and more than 97 percent of what they typed was correct in texts.