US Patent 7765013 - Nanoscale and microscale wireless neural probe

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7765013.html

Over the coming decades many of the most game changing innovations may rely on new ways to interface electronic devices with the human mind. This latest patent from Wisconsin Alumini Research Foundation teaches a wireless probe to provide stimulation of axons of neural cells and which may lay the groundwork for future computer-brain interfaces. Claim 1 reads:

1. A wirelessly stimulatable probe comprising:

an untethered, dispersible element attachable to tissue structure and substantially less than 100 micrometers in a longest dimension, the dispersible element absorbing electromagnetic radiation to produce an electrical current local to the dispersible element;

energy of the electromagnetic radiation providing the sole source of electrical power for the dispersible element in interacting with the tissue structure.