Short description: Private neurotechnology company
Kernel is a technology company that creates brain–machine interfaces. It is a privately held company headquartered in 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 introduced two brain-activity monitoring devices, Flux and Flow.[3][1] The Flow device can both see and record brain activity.[4][5][3]
Kernel also introduced "Sound ID," a software that can tell what speech or song a person is listening to just from brain data.[1] The company was featured in the 2020 documentary, I Am Human, about brain–machine interfaces.[6] Kernel raised $53 million in 2020.[7]
Kernel Flow
Kernel Flow is a wearable time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) system.[8][9] fNIRs uses infrared light to measure changes in the oxygenation of blood, which is a proxy for neural activity. Kernel Flow can achieve a 200 Hz sampling rate.[10] The spatial resolution of f-NIRS is strongly limited by scattering, with most existing f-NIRS systems having resolutions > 2 cm.[10]
Operations
Kernel plans to read and write the underlying functions of the brain.[11][12]
As of 2019, the company is researching neurological diseases and dysfunctions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, depression and anxiety.[13] Kernel is one of several companies researching links between the human brain and computer interfaces, including Neuralink and Facebook.[14] Kernel also offers neuroscience as a service to scientists and businesses, conducting subject testing at their office.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "A Neuroscience Startup Uses Helmets to Measure Brain Activity". Bloomberg.com. 5 May 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/brain-startup-wants-to-read-your-mind-with-a-helmet.
- ↑ Mannes, John (2016-10-20). "Bryan Johnson Invests $100 Million In Kernel To Unlock The Power Of The Human Brain". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/bryan-johnson-invests-100-million-in-kernel-to-unlock-the-power-of-the-human-brain/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hoyle, Ben. "Secret team invent helmet to read the mind" (in en). The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/secret-team-invent-helmet-to-read-the-mind-3tjtrfx6d.
- ↑ Statt, Nick (2017-02-22). "Kernel Is Trying To Hack The Human Brain - But Neuroscience Has A Long Way To Go". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/22/14631122/kernel-neuroscience-bryan-johnson-human-intelligence-ai-startup.
- ↑ Johnson, Bryan (2017-02-22). "Kernel Acquires KRS to Build Next-Generation Neural Interfaces". https://medium.com/@bryan_johnson/kernel-acquires-krs-to-build-next-generation-neural-interfaces-d5dd60662b6c.
- ↑ "Brain-Machine Interfaces Could Give Us All Superpowers" (in en-us). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/i-am-human-brain-implants/. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
- ↑ "Kernel raises $53 million to bring neuroscience insights to businesses" (in en-US). 2020-07-09. https://venturebeat.com/2020/07/09/kernel-raises-53-million-to-make-neuroscience-insights-accessible-to-businesses/.
- ↑ Ban, Han Y.; Barrett, Geoffry M.; Borisevich, Alex; Chaturvedi, Ashutosh; Dahle, Jacob L.; Dehghani, Hamid; DoValle, Bruno; Dubois, Julien et al. (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. doi:10.1117/12.2582888. ISBN 9781510641617. Bibcode: 2021SPIE11663E..0BB. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349827699. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ↑ von Lühmann, Alexander; Zheng, Yilei; Ortega-Martinez, Antonio; Kiran, Swathi; Somers, David C.; Cronin-Golomb, Alice; Awad, Louis N.; Ellis, Terry D. et al. (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. PMID 33709044.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kim, Meri (1 April 2021). "Shedding Light on the Human Brain". OSA Optics and Photonics News 32 (4): 26. doi:10.1364/OPN.32.4.000026. Bibcode: 2021OptPN..32d..26K. https://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_32/april_2021/features/shedding_light_on_the_human_brain/. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ↑ Johnson, Bryan (2016-10-12). "The Combination of Human and Artificial Intelligence Will Define Humanity's Future". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/12/the-combination-of-human-and-artificial-intelligence-will-define-humanitys-future/.
- ↑ Metz, Cade (2017-03-31). "Elon Musk Isn't The Only One Trying To Computerize Your Brain". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2017/03/elon-musks-neural-lace-really-look-like/. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
- ↑ Johnson, Bryan (2017-02-22). "Kernel Acquires KRS to Build Next-Generation Neural Interfaces". Medium. https://medium.com/@bryan_johnson/kernel-acquires-krs-to-build-next-generation-neural-interfaces-d5dd60662b6c.
- ↑ Regalado, Antonio (2017-03-16). "The Entrepreneur With The $100 Million Plan To Link Brains To Computers". MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603771/the-entrepreneur-with-the-100-million-plan-to-link-brains-to-computers/.
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