Reading the brain, one neuron at a time
Your brain has some 86 billion neurons that talk to each other with tiny electrical pulses. Neuralink wants to listen to them with threads thinner than a hair and turn those pulses into actions: moving a cursor, typing, controlling a robotic arm. With intention alone. ↗
All or nothing: the electrical pulse
At rest, a neuron sits at about −70 mV. Every signal it receives pushes it up a little. If it reaches the threshold (about −55 mV), it fires: a ~1 millisecond pulse that shoots up to +40 mV and drops back down. There are no “stronger” pulses: the information is in how many pulses per second it fires. ↗
Turn up the stimulus and watch the rhythm change.
Move the cursor with your mind
Drag the control: that is your intention. In the motor cortex, each neuron has a “favorite” direction and fires more when you want to move that way. The implant counts everyone’s pulses, adds up their votes and guesses where you want to go.
A simulation of the real principle (“population vector” decoding). With few neurons the cursor shakes and drifts; with many, it goes straight. That is why the N1 implant has 1,024 electrodes. ↗ If you don’t touch the control, an autopilot shows how it works.
Spread across 64 flexible threads. ↗
Thinner than a human hair, to damage tissue as little as possible. ↗
A robot inserts the threads one by one, avoiding blood vessels. ↗
No wires through the skin; it charges by induction. ↗
He controlled a cursor and played chess with intention alone. By January 2026 there were 21 participants in several countries. ↗
A participant’s record (2026). With a mouse, a person without paralysis manages about 8 to 10. ↗
From moving a cursor to restoring abilities
Neuralink’s stated goal is to go from reading signals to restoring lost functions. Here is where each piece stands:
- Controlling a computer and phone with the mindTesting
- Controlling a robotic armTesting
- Restoring speech: from thought to text or voiceIn development
- “Blindsight”: restoring sight by stimulating the visual cortexIn development
- Restoring movement of one’s own bodyConcept
Approximate status as of October 2026; things may have moved on. The computer and robotic arm trials already have participants; ↗ the speech trial (VOICE) is recruiting; ↗ Blindsight has held the FDA’s “breakthrough device” designation since 2024, but has not yet been implanted in a person. ↗