Wireless Brain-Spine Connection Overcomes Paralysis in MonkeyNovember 9, 2016 |
The achievement is yet another advance in the rapidly moving field of technological treatments for spinal cord damage.
In recent years, scientists have achieved brain control of robotic hands in monkeys and humans, helped a paralyzed man regain some use of a hand through a chip implanted in his brain, and used electrical stimulation of nerves to enable paralyzed rats to walk again.
The new system is unusual because it concentrates on the lower body, and allows a monkey — and perhaps in the near future a human — to use a wireless system rather than be tethered to a computer. It utilizes new developments in brain recording and in nerve stimulation. It does require a computer to decode and translate brain signals and send them to the spinal cord, but computer technology makes a wearable device feasible.
Image: By RedCoat – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3032679
Tags: bioethics, injury, paralysis, repair, spinal cord, spine, wireless
