/ News
Brain Chip, Electro-Sleeve Help Paralyzed Man Move His Hand
The goal of restoring movement to victims of paralysis, stroke or brain injury has consumed medical researchers for the past century. In recent years, they’ve deployed a variety of electronic devices to build a “brain-computer interface” that could harness the power of brainwaves to move muscles or other objects.
President Obama has discussed the science of spinal cord research this week on the Science Channel and Discovery News.
Ever woken up, but couldn't move a muscle? You're not alone. It's called sleep paralysis and it can be really scary.
Today, a team of scientists says they made another step toward that goal by recording and translating brain signals to bypass a spinal cord injury and allow a 24-year-old man to move his hand again.
“This study marks the first time that a person living with paralysis has regained movement with recorded signals from the brain,” said Chad Bouton, division leader at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y. “It’s an important pathway for other patients in the future. For stroke and spinal cord and traumatic brain injury patients, this will help.”
Bouton and colleagues from Batelle Research and Ohio State University report in the journal Nature on an experiment in which they implanted a small chip in a section of the brain called the motor cortex of a paraplegic male patient.
The chip recorded some of the electronic brain signals that were activated when the patient, Ian Burkhardt, was shown images of various hand movements -- processing more than three gigabytes of information every minute. It used machine-learning algorithms to translate and relay the signals to a electro-stimulation device worn on the Burkhardt's forearm. This system allowed him to make six different wrist and hand motions, including picking up a bottle and using a stick to stir the contents of a jar.
“The first time I was able to open and close my hand I felt a sense of hope for the future,” said Burkhardt, who broke his neck while diving into a wave when he was 19 years old. “Now within last two years since then, things are moving better than I imagined.”
Of course, Burkhardt can only move his arm while connected to the device inside the laboratory at Ohio State. And he has a chip implanted into his brain, a chip that the researchers said will degrade over time and could become infected or rejected by the body. Still, Burkhart hopes that he can one day leave the lab with functioning limbs. He says the electro-stimulation device, which is basically a series of wires and electrodes attached to his skin, is easier to wear than a bulky prosthetic.
“You’re not going to be looked on as a cyborg with this big thing on your arm,” Burkhart said. “It’s a lot more natural and you are normal. It’s a lot easier to use and fits in with your everyday life.”
Ali Rezai, a co-author on the new report and director of Ohio State’s Center for Neuroregeneration, said the team wanted something easy to wear.
Source: http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/brain-chip-electro-sleeve-help-paralyzed-man-move-his-arm-160413.htm
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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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