https://phys.org/news/2019-06-biotechnology-wireless-power-tiny-neural.html Brain implants have been in use for some time for things like Alzheimer's, but this is the first attempt I know of for creating a generic brain implant useful for any number of things, including stimulating brain cells to grow and form connections. Their device merely shines LED light on cells, making it the least invasive approach possible, and is the size of a grain of sand, with a wire coil wrapped around it. Using low frequency radiowaves it can be used to heal brain damage and to stimulate different parts of the brain into functioning better. LED technology is old, but is still in its infancy. Only in the last few years have materials scientists begun to comprehend them better, but the technology is related to lasers and is rapidly making progress now. There is no reason such rice sized stimulators could not be considerably smaller and wildly more effective for different tasks. For example, shining certain colors of light directly on an open wound is already used to stimulate healing, just like something out of Star Trek, but nobody really understands the principles for how it all fits together and its early days yet. What they do know, is brain cells are definitely responsive to light and having this first noninvasive generic implant is all that much more important, and this is the kind of technology that today robots commonly perform the surgery for. In the future, someone with a head injury coming into the emergency room, could receive surgery within hours at most to not only treat their injury, but help to heal the damage right away, and limit any more damage. A fucked up brain is like so much fucked up household wiring, and this kind of technology will make it possible to control the rats nest that can occur with brain damage and other problems. In the very near future, you should see fewer people limping and hobbling along, because they have implants.
