• Question: Can we replace damaged brain parts with devices?

    Asked by wl to Claire, Liad, Ruth, Ryan, Mako on 13 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Ryan Cheale

      Ryan Cheale answered on 13 Jun 2015:

      Unless this has already been done…

      But I think in the future this will be more possible with the introduction of graphene as a transistor allowing processors to be even smaller and powerful we may one day be able to replicate brain functions and replace parts.

      The brains is immensely powerful with it’s billions of nueron pathways. But artificial life will also one day be a reality and this will make use of technology mimicking the human brain.

      Someone else might be able to give you a better answer!

    • Photo: Liad Baruchin

      Liad Baruchin answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Yes. It certainly is possible. Today we still don’t replace our ‘inner’ brain parts with any artificial parts. But there is no reason why it shouldn’t be possible. But, even today we do use cochlear implant to replace the cochlea (an inner brain part that’s in charge of hearing) and actually we are starting to be able to replace the retina (the inner part of the eye, which is part of the brain responsible for vision) – restoring sight to blind people.

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