Crystal Windows to the Brain

by Celeste Solum

Fire From Heaven Series

Crystal Skulls: Windows to the Brain

In this article:

  • Crystal skulls on-demand
  • Transparent cranial windows into your brain
  • “Non-invasive” delivery of laser light and collection of data in your brain
  • The Invisible Man and Woman
  • Persistent optical access to the brain
  • Installation of fiber-optic cables into your brain
  • DEW laser,  Luminescent Nanoparticles, and Synthetic Biology
  • Luciferian Artificial Diamond YSZ Nanopowders
  • Titanium microneedle arrays anchored to your skull

 

One of the recent research thrusts in my research group aims at developing a novel transparent cranial implant (“window”) that enables life-long, non-invasive delivery and/or collection of laser light into and from shallow and deep brain tissue on demand. Such an implant would allow for real-time and highly precise visualization and treatment of diverse brain pathologies, such as those resulting from traumatic brain injury or brain tumors, without the need of highly-invasive craniotomies or trepanation procedures. The window could be permanently covered with native scalp that can be rendered temporarily transparent on demand in a minimally-invasive manner. In collaboration with other research groups at UCR, an YSZ implant has been successfully fabricated with current-activated powder-assisted densification (CAPAD) processing method. A summary of these results as well as ongoing and future studies pertaining to this research thrust will be presented.

 

Fiber Development and Coupling

The goal of the Window to the Brain Transparent Cranial Implant, is to provide persistent optical access to the brain. The transparency of the implant allows for light to pass directly through the bulk of the material, to target shallow targets such as in the cortex of the human brain.

Around 2016, scientists were developing several different optical fibers for use with the Window to the Brain, including optical fibers for:

  • Delivering and receiving light,
  • Optical fiber microheaters
  • Other fiber-based sensors.

This initial effort was undertaken by the collaborating laboratory of Juan Hernandez-Cordero at UNAM in Mexico City, Mexico.

For deeper targets, optical fibers implanted in the brain coupled to waveguides through written inscription are used.

You might think of this as fiber optic cable direct to your brain. A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable that contains one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. Fiber optic cables transfer data signals in the form of light and travel hundreds of miles significantly faster than those used in traditional electrical cables. They are designed for long-distance, high-performance data networking, and telecommunications at slightly under the speed of light. LINK

Synthetic Diamonds are Not Mankind's Friend

YSZ Nanopowder Synthesis

Notice the luminescent quality mentioned as well as the D-Luciferin
TEM micrograph of yttria-stabilized zirconia nanoparticles, which are densified to create the Window to the Brain implant.

 

TEM micrograph of yttria-stabilized zirconia nanoparticles, which are densified to create the Window to the Brain implant.

As you look at this image several things should catch your attention.

  • This is a nanoparticle with optical properties
  • Luminescent qualities
  • D-Luciferin is a potassium salt also known these days a Luciferaise. D-Luciferin is a substrate for the enzyme firefly luciferase, although today a synthetic enzyme is used. 

Five types of nanoparticles are utilized in the Window to the Brain project, as a precursor material for the implants. An antibacterial coating was used for the physical implants and as therapeutic chemical agents for use during the physical Window to the Brain project.

Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) (synthetic diamond) is an ideal material for the Window to the Brain implants due to its structural and optical properties, and its well-established biocompatibility. LINK

Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) is a type of ceramic material that has widespread applications in the chemical, electrical and electronics, medical equipment, and tools industry.

YSZ is a ceramic in which the cubic crystal structure of zirconium dioxide is made stable at room temperature. Some of the prominent applications of YSZ are textiles, nano fibers, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), electrolyte micro layers, ceramic applications, and thermal coatings.

YSZ maintains the nanocrystalline structure of the implants. It was discovered through research, exploiting its optical transparency and aging-resistance to designer smaller precursor particle grains. 

The C-SAMBA facility is working on a nanopowder synthesis for very small particles, using an aerosol process with a goal to produce 1 gram of nanopowder per day. 

Manufacturing

Microneedles

 

Titanium micropillar array fabricated by titanium deep reactive ion etching (Ti DRIE), which is an intermediate step in the microneedle array fabrication process.

Titanium micropillar array fabricated by titanium deep reactive ion etching (Ti DRIE), is an intermediate step in the microneedle array fabrication process.

The Window to the Brain project gets more intriguing with the introduction of the MicroNeedle Array- Death by a Thousand Needles.

Titanium was the material of choice for many implants and will be used as a frame to hold the Window to the Brain transparent YSZ implant and anchor it to the skull.

Titanium was also used for creating microneedle devices for the optical clearing agent injection.

This is all old-school technology with the advent of the invasion of Synthetic Biology into our bodies that can access any part of our brain or body through activation by direct EMF.

Nevertheless, it is necessary for us to be somewhat familiar with the process of how this assault against our person came to be. 

Titanium foil is bonded to the ceramic WttB implant through diffusion bonding. The titanium-YSZ bonds are assessed via pressure burst tests to confirm adequate strength. This bonding is similar to the bonding or cleaving that synthetic biology does when it bonds within your body to different parts. 

Titanium microneedle devices are fabricated by applying the MEMS methods. MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) is a technology that combines electronic and moving parts in microscopic devices. MEMS is the whole concept behind nanobots and synthetic biology.

The titanium microneedle devices are used to inject an optical clearing agent into the scalp.  LINK 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221001462 

The optical clearing agent essentially makes the scalp temporarily transparent so that light-based imaging can be performed through the Window to the Brain non-invasively without having to displace the scalp. LINK.

Similarly, this is part of the process of graphene, hydrogel, and Quantum Dot, to turn your body into the Invisible Man or Woman for Imaging Voyeurs.

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