Kernel (neurotechnology company)

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Kernel
TypePrivate
Founded2016; 7 years ago (2016)
FounderBryan Johnson
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Websitekernel.com

Kernel is a privately held firm that creates brain-machine interfaces with its headquarters in Culver City, Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2016 by Bryan Johnson.[1][2]

History

Johnson founded Kernel in 2016 with a $54 million investment and began researching neuroprosthetics, devices implanted into the brain that mimic, substitute, or assist brain functions.[1][3]

In May 2020, Kernel unveiled two brain-activity monitoring devices.[3][1] One device, Flux, measures electromagnetic activity; another, Flow, can measure changes in blood metabolism.

The Kernel Flow device can both see and record brain activity and is expected to become available for purchase in late 2021. Potential applications of the technology include assisting paralyzed individuals with communication and tracking mental functions, such as creativity or anxiety.[4][5][3]

At the same time, Kernel introduced "Sound ID," software that can tell what speech or song a person is listening to just from brain data. Bloomberg called the software “a sort of Shazam for the mind”, referring to the popular music-recognition app, Shazam.[1] In a demonstration, music producer and DJ Steve Aoki tried one of Kernel's helmets with Sound ID technology. As Aoki listened to his own compositions, Kernel software analyzed Aoki's brain activity and identified the song being played.[1]

Kernel was featured in the 2020 documentary, I Am Human, about brain-machine interfaces.[6]

Kernel raised $53 million in 2020 to accelerate development of a new generation of brain tech.[7]

Kernel Flow

Kernel Flow is a wearable time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) system which Kernel started demoing in spring 2021.[8][9] fNIRs uses infrared light to measure changes in the oxygenation of blood, which is a proxy for neural activity. Kernel Flow is capable of achieving a 200 Hz sampling rate which is much faster than existing TD-fNIRS systems.[10] The spatial resolution of f-NIRS is strongly limited by scattering, with most existing f-NIRS systems having resolutions > 2 cm.[10] According to statements from the company, the Kernel flow achieves approximately 1 cm resolution.[11] The helmet contains 52 modules which can be arranged in different configurations depending on the application. Each module contains a dual bandwidth (690 nm and 850 nm) laser source surrounded by 6 hexagonally arranged detectors.[8] Each laser diode is built into an integrated circuit and surrounded by specialized circuitry that generates laser pulses that are less than 150 ps in duration. Laser power is limited to 5 mW and typical average power is below 1mW during normal operation. The system includes a subassembly with a microcontroller, amplifier, and 9-axis inertial measurement device. The system connects to a computer through a single USB-C cable that also is responsible for powering the device.[8]

Operations

Johnson, who has said the future of humanity will be a combination of human and artificial intelligence, says Kernel's objective is "to read and write the underlying functions of the brain."[12][13]

As of 2019, the company is researching neurological diseases and dysfunctions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, depression and anxiety.[14] Kernel is one of several companies researching links between the human brain and computer interfaces, including Neuralink and Facebook.[15]

Kernel also offers neuroscience as a service to scientists and businesses, conducting subject testing at their office.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "A Neuroscience Startup Uses Helmets to Measure Brain Activity". Bloomberg.com. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-09.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Mannes, John (2016-10-20). "Bryan Johnson Invests $100 Million In Kernel To Unlock The Power Of The Human Brain". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  3. ^ a b c Hoyle, Ben. "Secret team invent helmet to read the mind". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  4. ^ Statt, Nick (2017-02-22). "Kernel Is Trying To Hack The Human Brain - But Neuroscience Has A Long Way To Go". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  5. ^ Johnson, Bryan (2017-02-22). "Kernel Acquires KRS to Build Next-Generation Neural Interfaces". Medium. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  6. ^ "Brain-Machine Interfaces Could Give Us All Superpowers". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  7. ^ "Kernel raises $53 million to bring neuroscience insights to businesses". VentureBeat. 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  8. ^ a b c Ban, Han Y.; Barrett, Geoffry M.; Borisevich, Alex; Chaturvedi, Ashutosh; Dahle, Jacob L.; Dehghani, Hamid; DoValle, Bruno; Dubois, Julien; Field, Ryan; Gopalakrishnan, Viswanath; Gundran, Andrew; Henninger, Michael; Ho, Wilson C.; Hughes, Howard D.; Jin, Rong; Kates-Harbeck, Julian; Landy, Thanh; Lara, Antonio H.; Leggiero, Michael; Lerner, Gabriel; M. Aghajan, Zahra; Moon, Michael; Ojeda, Alejandro; Olvera, Isai; Ozturk, Meric; Park, Sangyong; Patel, Milin J.; Perdue, Katherine L.; Poon, Wing; Sheldon, Zachary P.; Siepser, Benjamin; Sorgenfrei, Sebastian; Sun, Nathan; Szczepanski, Victor; Zhang, Mary; Zhu, Zhenye (2021-03-05). Mohseni, Hooman (ed.). "Kernel Flow: a high channel count scalable TD-fNIRS system". Integrated Sensors for Biological and Neural Sensing. 11663: 23. Bibcode:2021SPIE11663E..0BB. doi:10.1117/12.2582888. ISBN 9781510641617. S2CID 233784807. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  9. ^ von Lühmann, Alexander; Zheng, Yilei; Ortega-Martinez, Antonio; Kiran, Swathi; Somers, David C.; Cronin-Golomb, Alice; Awad, Louis N.; Ellis, Terry D.; Boas, David A.; Yücel, Meryem A. (June 2021). "Toward Neuroscience of the Everyday World (NEW) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy". Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering. 18: 100272. doi:10.1016/j.cobme.2021.100272. PMC 7943029. PMID 33709044.
  10. ^ a b Kim, Meri (1 April 2021). "Shedding Light on the Human Brain". OSA Optics and Photonics News. 32 (4): 26. Bibcode:2021OptPN..32d..26K. doi:10.1364/OPN.32.4.000026. S2CID 233531121. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Kernel Flow Live Stream - 22 October 2020". YouTube. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  12. ^ Johnson, Bryan (2016-10-12). "The Combination of Human and Artificial Intelligence Will Define Humanity's Future". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  13. ^ Metz, Cade (2017-03-31). "Elon Musk Isn't The Only One Trying To Computerize Your Brain". Wired. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  14. ^ Johnson, Bryan (2017-02-22). "Kernel Acquires KRS to Build Next-Generation Neural Interfaces". Medium. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  15. ^ Regalado, Antonio (2017-03-16). "The Entrepreneur With The $100 Million Plan To Link Brains To Computers". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2017-04-04.

External links

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