Starfish Neuroscience is a startup cofounded in 2019 by Gabe Newell, CEO of video game publisher Valve. The company recently announced its plans to develop innovative brain-computer interfaces, in the same vein as the brain implant specialist, Neuralink.

While Neuralink's technology currently takes the form of a single implant, consisting of 1,024 electrodes, designed to interact with a specific area of the brain, Starfish Neuroscience envisages the use of several much smaller implants, each targeting a specific brain region.

The idea is to be able to stimulate several areas of the brain in a coordinated fashion. These first chips would measure just 2 to 4mm in length, and would be equipped with data recording and biphasic pulse stimulation capabilities.

On paper, these implants look tiny and would consume extremely little power, possibly even eliminating the need for recharging. A first prototype implant is due to be tested by the end of 2025.

Starfish's current focus is on medical applications, including the treatment of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, depression and bipolar disorder. However, with Gabe Newell at the helm of the project, many people are already imagining video game applications, with implants specially dedicated to this purpose. This could pave the way for totally new immersive experiences. However, this vision of human-machine interaction remains the stuff of science fiction at this stage.

In the field of brain-computer interfaces, Neuralink has paved the way, with the striking example of a quadriplegic man able to play chess on a computer thanks to the implant grafted into his brain. Its next stated objective is to enable a patient to control a robotic arm, simply by the power of thought. – AFP Relaxnews