Brain implants are g…

Brain implants are getting better and better, giving hope to those with paralysis.

A man paralysed from the neck down by knife injuries sustained five years ago can now check his email, control a robot arm and even play computer games using the power of thought alone.

Matt Nagle’s extraordinary abilities were first reported in March 2005. Now details of the technology that lets him perform these tasks are published in the journal Nature. Another study in the same issue reveals a technique that could dramatically improve the speed with which such implants work.

Electrodes implanted in Nagle’s brain measure the neural signals generated when he concentrates on trying to move one of his paralysed limbs. Software trained to recognise different patterns of neural activity then translates imagined gestures into the movement of an on-screen cursor or a robotic arm at Nagle’s side.

“The fundamental findings are that you can record activity from the brain years after injury, that thinking about movement is sufficient to activate the brain, and that we can decode the signal,” says John Donoghue of Brown University in New York, who led the work.

“Even though only one person was studied, the findings are impressive, especially as you can use the system while talking,” says Maria Stokes a neurologist at the University of Southampton, UK.

Truly amazing. Read the article for how it’s done.

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