Norma-Jean McLaren has been living with two electrodes implanted into her brain for almost a year.
“You can feel them, they’re like bumps,” said McLaren on a recent fall morning as she touched the top of her skull. She traced her hand down her neck, where there is a wire connecting the electrodes to a battery-powered neurostimulator in her chest. This device provides a steady stream of electrical impulses to a part of her brain that regulates memory.