DARPA wants to chat with 1 million neurons through brain-computer interface program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been working on neural interfaces since 1974, when agency-funded scientists used encephalogram signals to help participants move cursors around a maze. Now, through its Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, the agency is sponsoring research into a new generation of technologies that could better enable communication between devices and the brain. NESD is pursuing technologies that could someday serve as foundations for future treatments for sensory deficits, such as blindness and deafness, said Justin Sanchez, who directs DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office, in an email.