Researchers Have Linked a Human Brain to the Internet for the First Time Ever

[Binary_Bark]

IN BRIEF

Researchers from Wits University have linked a brain directly to the internet. Data gathered from this project could help fuel the next steps in machine learning and brain-computer interfaces.
BRAIN MEETS IOT

A team of researchers at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa have made a major breakthrough in the field of biomedical engineering. According to a release published on Medical Express, for the first time ever, researchers have devised a way of connecting the human brain to the internet in real time. It’s been dubbed the “Brainternet” project, and it essentially turns the brain “…into an Internet of Things (IoT) node on the World Wide Web.”

The project works by taking brainwave EEG signals gathered by an Emotiv EEG device connected to the user’s head. The signals are then transmitted to a low cost Raspberry Pi computer, which live streams the data to an application programming interface and displays the data on an open website where anyone can view the activity. Adam Pantanowitz, a lecturer in the Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering and the project’s supervisor, said:

"Brainternet is a new frontier in brain-computer interface systems. There is a lack of easily understood data about how a human brain works and processes information. Brainternet seeks to simplify a person’s understanding of their own brain and the brains of others. It does this through continuous monitoring of brain activity as well as enabling some interactivity."

Read More At: https://futurism.com/researchers-have-linked-a-human-brain-to-the-internet-for-the-first-time-ever/

 

[Thor]

Sounds to me a lot like the thing MTN science center had in 2007 where you and another person play tennis using only your brain to move the ball.

 

[Aquila ka Hecate]

Well, that would be a first.

A functioning brain on the internet - especially on Facebook and Twitter.

 

[Pox]

All they are doing is live-streaming an EEG output to a website. They have not 'linked a brain to the internet". Linking implies two-way traffic, this is one-way sending of data.

So a bit of a click-baity headline.

 

[konfab]

So this is how it starts...

 

[Nuke]

Can't really see the use of it, other than making a clickbait headline. EEG is like listening to a car's engine with the bonnet closed. Very useful detecting certain problems, but a lot of the machine is "invisible" because it doesn't emit any noise. It doesn't tell you any content, just activation patterns.

Also, an EMOTIV is a pretty crappy EEG IMO, its more of a toy.You won't get a proper 14 channel, dry electrode device for $800.

 

[Messugga]

Can't really see the use of it, other than making a clickbait headline. EEG is like listening to a car's engine with the bonnet closed. Very useful detecting certain problems, but a lot of the machine is "invisible" because it doesn't emit any noise. It doesn't tell you any content, just activation patterns.

Also, an EMOTIV is a pretty crappy EEG IMO, its more of a toy.You won't get a proper 14 channel, dry electrode device for $800.

Purely to drum up interest. There's nothing really novel here. I can stick a temperature sensor on my toilet and push the temperature to some website. It doesn't mean the toilet and the internet is linked. Not in the way we traditionally think of links, anyway.