Fifty years ago, one of the most popular American television shows debuted this famous phrase: “We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster.” Children and adults alike tuned in to see the latest adventures of Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man, crime-fighting astronaut turned international spy who featured advanced implants that seamlessly blended cyberonic technology through neural interfaces to give him super speed, super strength, super vision, and more.
The concept of using neural connected technology implants to give people a mental or physical superpower has been a consistent plot line favorite for science fiction. The reality of this work is very different. By far, the bulk of real work in this area is not about creating superheroes, but rather restoring full functionality following injury or disease.
The work is justified—a recent study in The Lancet [1] found that 1 in 3 individuals worldwide will be affected by neurological disease with many suffering years of degenerative effect. The scope of the challenge warrants regular dialog [2] with policymakers and public research funders such as the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus here in the U.S. Developing technology for this diverse set of conditions and conducting large rigorous clinical trials will take a lot of resources—not surprising then that the promised reboot of The Six Million Dollar Man has been retitled The Six Billion Dollar Man.
In this issue of Pulse, we feature work from industry and universities to create true neuroscience links between human physiology and technology. Neuroscience technology development is well positioned to profit from the substantial megatrend advances such as wireless communications, computing speed, and rechargeable batteries. While it feels like this collection of articles just scratches the surface, it touches on many different disciplines and objectives. I’m impressed by the progress described in these pages, and excited to see the advances these teams make in the years to come.
References
- “Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021,” Lancet, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 344–381, Apr. 2024.
- (2024). 10 Years of BRAIN Initiative Funding—Building on a Decade of Innovation. [Online]. Available: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CSL2jXUz_y_xRdZ-aLUn0DLlft6DcbAN/view