The era of the real-life bionic man may be a little bit closer after scientists in the U.S. announced they had successfully implanted a chip into the brain of a quadriplegic man enabling him to use a computer and operate a robotic arm.
Professor John Donoghue of Brown University, who led the research, told CNN the breakthrough heralded the "dawn of the age of neurotechnology" after the results of the study were published in the latest edition of Nature.
The device, known as BrainGate, enabled 25-year-old Matthew Nagle to perform basic tasks such as moving a computer cursor, changing TV channels and even operating the fingers on a prosthetic hand.
"We have devices that can put signals into the brain that help treat disorders and restore function but we don't have devices for getting signals back out of the brain," said Donoghue.
"That's where we have really provided something new and that's really opening up a new vista for the field."
Donoghue said the long-term goal of the study was to develop brain computer interfaces (BCIs) that would enable the paralyzed to move their limbs.
"This study shows it is possible for someone with a longstanding spinal cord injury to use the brain signals from the movement areas of their brain to control the world again. We hope that one day we can physically repair the nervous system by connecting brain activity back up to the muscles and allowing them to move again."
But some futurists believe that could be the tip of the iceberg, with nanotechnological advances enabling the creation of chip implants small enough to sit within the human nervous system and cybernetic progress one day enabling the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the paralysed to walk.
Beyond alleviating the effects of severe disabilities, normal functioning humans could also benefit from "upgrades" to improve intelligence, sensory awareness or simply to counter the effects of aging.
Donoghue said such developments remained a long way off: "I think for the foreseeable future the center that picks up these brain signals needs to be on the inside. That requires surgery and I just don't see us having surgery."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/07 ... index.html
Three short years later...
They can’t extract secret terrorist plots yet, but Utah bioengineers have implanted a brain chip in human test subjects that enables researchers to download brain data onto hard drives. The team working with the chip is hoping to make immediate improvements in the lives of people with epilepsy, paralysis or blindness, but say the chips may one day enable brain-native Internet browsing or most any other function currently possible with a computer.
The Utah Electrode Array’s purpose is analogous to a modem: It relays data from the brain to a computer, and vice-versa. It may soon enable thought control of bionic limbs like Luke Skywalker’s in Star Wars and, further in the future, may help the blind to see.
Neural Engineering Lab supervisor and University of Utah assistant professor Bradley Greger describes the chip as “a platform technology that is going to enable many, many new things.” With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Greger and dozens of other scientists are pioneering brain-computing technology.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article- ... d-see.html
"It's time you saw the future while you still have human eyes"
-Kane
A Question:
Despite the obvious breach of ethics, when these things begin coming to fruition could there be a push for mind control in a physical sense?
