Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Northwestern engineers and neurobiologists developed a non-invasive device that conforms to the skull and delivers complex sequences of light through bone. Complex patterns of light send information directly to the brain — bypassing the body’s natural sensory pathways.
In a demonstration, the engineers programmed the device to display patterns of light in the sequence of a Tetris game. The technology has immense potential for various therapeutic applications, including providing sensory feedback for prosthetic limbs, delivering artificial stimuli for future vision or hearing prostheses, modulating pain perception without opioids or systemic drugs, enhancing rehabilitation after stroke or injury and controlling robotic limbs with the brain.
Credit: Mingzheng Wu/Rogers Research Group
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Northwestern engineers and neurobiologists developed a non-invasive device that conforms to the skull and delivers complex sequences of light through bone. Complex patterns of light send information directly to the brain — bypassing the body’s natural sensory pathways.
In a demonstration, the engineers programmed the device to display patterns of light in the sequence of a Tetris game. The technology has immense potential for various therapeutic applications, including providing sensory feedback for prosthetic limbs, delivering artificial stimuli for future vision or hearing prostheses, modulating pain perception without opioids or systemic drugs, enhancing rehabilitation after stroke or injury and controlling robotic limbs with the brain.
Credit: Mingzheng Wu/Rogers Research Group
____
▶️ Subscribe: bit.ly/NorthwesternUYTSubscribe
Follow Northwestern on social media:
-Instagram: instagram.com/northwesternu
-TikTok: tiktok.com/@northwestern.u
-Twitter/X: twitter.com/northwesternu
-LinkedIn: linkedin.com/school/northwestern-university
-Facebook: facebook.com/northwesternu
Northwestern on the Web:
-Northwestern Homepage: https://northwestern.edu
-Northwestern Now News: https://news.northwestern.edu
-Northwestern Magazine: https://magazine.northwestern.edu
