Using Diamonds to Combat Epilepsy

During the holidays, a group of year 10, 11, and 12 physics students attended in person and online a fascinating talk at the Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES) by physics Professor Steven Prawer. He talked about the work his group were doing using brain implants to predict and possibly prevent epileptic seizures, a problem that affects over 150,000 Australians. The brain implants consist of an array of tiny carbon electrodes on a diamond base with microelectronics. MGC was the most represented school there, and our students and asked fantastic questions, one of which was “why use diamonds?”. Turns out diamonds don’t react chemically with the human body, don’t allow water to pass through to damage the electronics, and are extremely hard, making them perfect to use in implants.

One of the key points highlighted by the talk was the collaborative nature of this research. Even though the research is being led by physicists, the team consists of computer scientists, biologists, hardware engineers, neurologists, and psychologists, just to name a few. Just goes to show that physics knowledge is necessary to solve challenging problems, even when it comes to things that affect the human body.

Sandor Kazi