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Neuron
A nerve cell, the basic unit of the nervous system, which sends information using electrical and chemical signals.
Neurons receive input through branching dendrites, combine it in the cell body, and send output along a long axon to other cells through connections called synapses. The human brain has about 86 billion neurons and around 100 trillion synapses.
BCIs record the electrical side of this activity, either from single neurons or from very large groups of them. See How the brain produces signals.
Last updated Sep 30, 2026. Educational content, not medical advice.