Synchron tests less-invasive brain chip backed by Bezos

Todd Smith

there's a misunderstanding here. Neuralink and Synchron are complementary, not competing. ynchron seeks to place BCI devices in the brain by an endovascular approach; a wire carries the gizmo through the arterial network, likely starting from the femoral artery. This approach utilizes existing stroke treatment strategies to bypass the need for general anesthesia and surgery, and certainly there are parts of the brain that are more easily accessed this way. But the motor cortex isn't one of them. The motor cortex is supplied by thin branches of the anterior cerebral artery, and occlusive strokes isolated to a small region of the cortex are not typically treated with endovascular intervention precisely because the vessels are too small. Barring massive advances in nanotech, the Synchron devices (all of which now look rather big) aren't getting anywhere near the precentral gyrus. Neuralink and Synchron are complementary technologies, not competitors.