Marsh drew on examples from bio-engineering supported by ENG to show how discoveries are changing the way engineers and scientists view the world. The NSB meeting took place at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia the week of February 23-27, 1998. Citing recent discoveries in microfabrication technology, Marsh outlined how the division between mechanical systems and human neural systems is rapidly closing, thanks to advances in technology.
New opportunities exist, for example, in creating sensors that mimic human sensory function.
Marsh explained that new sensor technologies permit a miniature sensor to be placed in the brain which could respond to increases in cerebro-spinal fluid pressure and open a valve that allows the fluid to drain, thereby avoiding brain atrophy. The microchip, if successful, would help people whose outer retinal layer has been destroyed by retinitis pigmentosa, for example. He described how in the future, sensors will be inserted in the stump of a severed limb to receive signals from the brain for operating the prosthesis. Currently, prosthetic limbs are driven by more rudimentary mechanics. The challenge is to refine the nature of those neural transmissions.