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Single Neuron Wired To Muscle Un-Paralyzes Monkeys
GalaticGrub writes "A pair of paralyzed monkeys regained the ability to move their arms after researchers wired individual neurons to the monkeys' arm muscles. A team of researchers at the University of Washington temporarily paralyzed each monkey's arm, then rerouted brain signals from a single neuron in the motor cortex around the blocked nerve pathway via a computer. When the neuron fired above a certain rate, the computer translated the signal into a jolt of electricity to the arm muscle, causing it to contract. The monkeys practiced moving their arms by playing a video game."
Who's the grad student who had to break those monkeys spines?
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But can you teach them to type??
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
"Monkeys learn to play video games." I actually think that's more amazing.
Currently hooked on AMP
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. Blurst of times! Stupid monkey!
Let us not become the evil that we deplore.
Amazing! This is truly a wonderful time to be a monkey.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Certainly they may be jumping for joy. Though there is more to it than just wiring an electrode to a muscle before the fat lady can sing again.
A functional limb without any sense of its location in relation to the body is a problem, one without feeling is also a problem. Did they think about electrodes for everything else the nervous system is responsible for too?
The researchers who published this should have 'Correlation is not causation' written in giant billboards in front of their houses.
Just 2 monkeys regained movement after the experiment does not mean that rerouting brain signals past blocked nerve pathways using a single neuron controlled by a computer did anything at all. They should have waited until they had ruled out other possibilities, like divine intervention, before publishing results. For shame!
Seems ripe for exploitation...
"...Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself..."
--Edward Dassmesser
Can a human control a monkey arm?
If so, can we control its entire body?
If so, can we do it remotely, through a wire to a cell phone.
If so, how long until someone decides to use monkeys as freedom fighters?
Yes, science should never go down this path, but hey, it is still possible to look down the paths
God spoke to me.
Whoever tagged this article "shockthemonkey" is awesome.
It's certainly true that proprioception (the ability to sense joint location) and sensation of muscle tension are useful feedback systems in coordinating limb movements. It's well known in the field (I'm a neuroscientist), however, that several neurological conditions rob patients of these sensations and they're still able to move their limbs effectively (though not perfectly). I'd guess that a patient who was paralyzed wouldn't mind being able to move their arms again, even if they couldn't feel where they were without looking.
Am I the only one who's more interested in the medical significance of this, instead of the silly aspect of monkey-gaming? Holy crap guys, use your brains.
This means that we have the potential to repair neural damage, potentially severe damage as well!
I see particular use with pacemakers. Rather than just pulse the heart at a given frequency, read what the brain wants the heart to do, and do that! You could do the same thing for the lungs as well, although I'm not sure how often someone who damages that nerve makes it to the hospital in time.
Other use could be with amputation victims. Helping restore function to reattached appendages/digits, or controlling prosthesis...
I wonder if, further down the line, it would be possible to do this to sensory nerves as well, not just motor control/response...
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
This is irony:
God, please protect me from your followers.