Sakhrat Khizroev is using ultrafine units called magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs) to tap into the brain without wires or implants. Khizroev and his team plan to introduce millions of MENPs into the body intravenously and then read the brain’s signals through a special magnetic helmet.

“Not only could it revolutionize the field of neuroscience, but it could potentially change many other aspects of our health care system,” Khizroev said. “We will finally learn how the computing architecture of the brain works. Such knowledge will help enable neuromorphic computing in which computers mimic the way the brain works.”

• Sakhrat Khizroev