More Wow from the World of Science!
Jul. 12th, 2006 12:53 pmSome exciting research involving the implantation of chips that enable quadriplegics and others with incapacitating brain (and spinal) injuries communicate using their thoughts:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060712computer-brain,1,4405040.story?coll=chi-news-hed
It's the Trib, so you may need to register, but there are the usual workarounds.
This statement by John Donoghue, director of Brown University's Brain Science Program, concerning the possible development of systems that allow the paralyzed to regain movement in limbs was pretty exciting:
"We're working on a project to hook up our brain signals so that they go directly to the muscles again," he explained. "But instead of them going from the brain to the spinal cord to the nerves to the muscles, they'll go from the brain to a little chip and then from the chip to a computer to a stimulator and from the stimulator to the muscles. The idea would be that they would move their muscles by thought, just like an able-bodied person does."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060712computer-brain,1,4405040.story?coll=chi-news-hed
It's the Trib, so you may need to register, but there are the usual workarounds.
This statement by John Donoghue, director of Brown University's Brain Science Program, concerning the possible development of systems that allow the paralyzed to regain movement in limbs was pretty exciting:
"We're working on a project to hook up our brain signals so that they go directly to the muscles again," he explained. "But instead of them going from the brain to the spinal cord to the nerves to the muscles, they'll go from the brain to a little chip and then from the chip to a computer to a stimulator and from the stimulator to the muscles. The idea would be that they would move their muscles by thought, just like an able-bodied person does."