New hopes for the paralyzed offer American neuroscientists and engineers, who managed to put a monkey with an implanted brain "chip" to move in real time - and only with its brain waves (its "thought") - the hands of another monkeys, who was drugged and had electrodes implanted in her spine. The researchers said that for the first time it was possible for an animal to control the movement of another animal remotely - a kind of "voodoo"!
Electric strokes signalthe monkeys from one activated the spinal column of the other and thus the first experimental animal could practically control the movements of the second, which was as if paralyzed, since it was unconscious and could not move its limbs. For ethical reasons, the experiment was not done with an actual paralyzed monkey, but with an anesthetized one, called an "avatar", the equivalent of virtual digital faces that a user controls online.
The drugged monkey was holding a controller in its hand (like those of gaming machines), while the first monkey simply stared at a computer screen and thought it was moving a cursor up and down. In 98% of the cases the monkey - controller was able to move voluntarily the hand of the monkey - avatar. Her thoughts (mental movements up and down) were transmitted through the electrodes, with the result that the second monkey unconsciously moved the control up and down.
However, this simple movement is far from the dexterous movements of a human hand, so the technology will have to be significantly improved before it can be used practically in paralyzed people. Still, there is the added problem that the muscles of paralyzed people have weakened too much due to immobility.
Researchers at Harvard University School of Medicine and Cornell University School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, led by neurosurgeon Ziv Williams and engineer Mariam Sanchez, published the paper in the journal Nature. CommunicationsAccording to the BBC, the French Agency and the "New Scientist", said that the experiment is a "significant step forward" in the field of biomedical engineering.
The goal is to develop a new technology human-machine interface, which could in the future help people paralyzed due to damage to the spinal cord and spine to move their bodies again, even to a certain extent, which would significantly improve their quality of life.
Central and vertebral damage (due to a major accident or illness) interrupts the brain's communication with the rest of the body, so patients can not walk or feed on their own. "Our hope is to finally achieve the totally natural movement in people with spinal paralysis. I think it's theoretically possible, but it will take a lot of extra effort to get to that point, "said Zie Williams.
The hope is the future implantation of electrodes in the paralyzed brain, which will send electrical signals to patients' thoughts - commands either in prosthetic limbs or directly to the muscles, thus bypassing the intermediate point of injury in the spine. Previous research in the ever-evolving field of human-machine (computer) interfaces has allowed humans to move robotic arms with their thinking.
The researchers also denied the suspicions that the new technology could be used, beyond the medical field, to remotely control people's bodies without the will of the latter - a script from a science fiction novel or voodoo magic stories.
Link: For original scientific work (subscription) at:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140218/ncomms4237/full/ncomms4237.html
Pavlos Drakopoulos, RES
News Room «Profit»With information from RES - AMP
