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'Avatar'- brain implant could help paralysed patients
Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how we move.
During tests they moved the arm of one monkey using the brain of another.
The 'master' monkey's brain was wired to the spinal cord of the other.
This second monkey was sedated to mimic the effects of paralysis.
When the 'master' animals thought about moving its arm, the arm of the 'paralysed' monkey moved instead
It may sound like the kind of mind control seen in sci-fi film Avatar, but scientists working on a cure for paralysis have successfully used the thoughts of one monkey to control the movement of another.
Using technology fictionalised in James Cameron's 2009 film, scientists from California wired the brain of one Rhesus monkey to the spinal cord of another which had been placed in a state of artificial paralysis.
The conscious monkey was then able to control the movements of the second primate using only its thoughts, even though it was completely disconnected from the arm muscle it sought to control.
HOW DID THE EXPERIMENT WORK?
During lab tests, a team of engineers and neuroscientists from Cornell University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering used electrodes to connect the brain of one monkey to the spinal cord of another.
A computer then decoded and relayed neural signals between the two.
The first monkey, dubbed the 'master', was restrained in a special chair in front of a computer screen showing a cursor and a green circle alternating between two spots.
The second animal, or 'avatar', was fully sedated in a separate enclosure with its arm strapped to a 360-degree joystick.
This joystick was used to move the cursor, and chase the circular target, on the screen in front of the 'master.'
As the 'master' thought of moving the cursor, its brain signals were decoded to determine which of the two targets it had in mind.
This data was relayed in real-time to the spinal cord of the sleeping avatar, whose arm manipulated the joystick accordingly.
Every time the cursor hit its target, the master received a squirt of juice as reward.
The study's co-author, Maryam Shanechi of Cornell University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said: We demonstrate that a subject can control a paralysed limb purely with its thoughts.'
The discovery 'could have the potential to help paralysed patients regain control of their own limbs,' she added.
During lab tests, a team of engineers and neuroscientists from Cornell University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering used electrodes to connect the brain of one monkey to the spinal cord of another.
A computer then decoded and relayed neural signals between the two.
The first monkey, dubbed the 'master', was restrained in a special chair in front of a computer screen showing a cursor and a green circle alternating between two spots.
The second animal, or 'avatar', was fully sedated in a separate enclosure with its arm strapped to a 360-degree joystick.
This joystick was used to move the cursor, and chase the circular target, on the screen in front of the 'master.'
As the 'master' thought of moving the cursor, its brain signals were decoded to determine which of the two targets it had in mind.
This data was relayed in real-time to the spinal cord of the sleeping avatar, whose arm manipulated the joystick accordingly.
Every time the cursor hit its target, the master received a squirt of juice as reward.
The findings 'provide a proof of concept that just by thinking, subjects can move an arm in two dimensions' even with no physiological connection between the brain and the muscle, according to Ms Shanechi.
Bernard Conway, head of biomedical engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, said the research was 'a key step forward' in identifying a paralysed subject's intention or desire to perform a specific movement and translating that into action.
University of Warwick biomedical engineering professor Christopher James added the findings had 'profound implications... for controlling limbs in spinal cord injury, or controlling prosthetic limbs with limb amputees.'
It was not clear how well the findings in sedated monkeys could be replicated in truly paralysed patients whose muscles have become weak with disuse, and further testing is required.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2562693/Avatar-inspired-technology-help-paralysed-patients-regain-movement.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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