How Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip allows paralyzed people to control devices with their mind

Neuralink, the brain-chip company co-founded by Elon Musk, uses implants that enable paralyzed people to remotely control devices with their mind — and hopes the device will one day help restore their motor functions.

The revolutionary technology relies on a coin-sized implant, known as “the Link,” to record and decode neural signals and then transmit information back to the brain using electric stimulation.

“The Link” is embedded under the skull, where it receives data from neural threads that are attached to different parts of the subject’s brain, particularly those that control motor skills.

This week, the brain chip developed an unexpected problem a few months after it was inserted into its first test subject, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who is paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident eight years ago.

Some of the micro-threads detached but the company said it was able to make the implant more sensitive to improve its performance.

Each thread has sensors that are capable of recording and emitting electrical currents that are “so fine and flexible that they can’t be inserted by the human hand,” according to Neuralink’s website.