Telekinesis
In what is being heralded as a potential breakthrough for patients with spinal cord injuries, a quadriplegic was able to open e-mail, change television stations and turn on lights with just his mind — and a sophisticated brain sensor that translated his thoughts into actions.Matthew Nagle, 25, was injured in a knife attack in 2001 and cannot use his arms or legs. But for the nine months he had a sensor implanted in his brain, he was able to play video games, draw rudimentary figures with a computer paint program and grab a piece of candy with a prosthetic hand.
In a complementary study, monkeys at Stanford University used the same technology to control computer cursors, accomplishing the task four times faster than in previous primate experiments. This, researchers said, puts the technology within the realm of practicality for patients, although it will take years to move it from the lab to the marketplace.
The dual findings, which appear today in the journal Nature, are raising hopes that brain power can be harnessed and put to work in some patients with physical impairments, allowing them to do mundane tasks that healthy people take for granted.
I say screw the injured people, I want one.
That’s amazing!