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New Implant Lets Paralyzed Rats Walk Again
An anonymous reader writes A team from EPFL and NCCR Robotics led by Profs Stéphanie Lacour, Grégoire Courtine and Silvestro Micera published an article in Science today describing their e-dura implant that could revolutionize how we think about and treat paralysis. Until now, implants placed beneath the dura mater of the spinal cord have caused significant tissue damage when used over long periods. Research shows that the new e-dura implant is viable for months at a time in animal subjects. The team is now moving on to clinical trials in human subjects and is developing their prototype to take to market.
Never mind them walking, how about getting them to pass some legislation, approve some nominees, and attend to the country'e debts.
Oh wait, you don't mean the ones in Washington
if you read the abstract, you would have seen that the e stands for electronic, as in electronic dura.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
They tried that at work and after a few weeks people figured they could just start parking in them no matter what and the parking lot would fill up over time.
My favorite is when seeing a (seemingly) healthy person get out of a car from a previous hard athletic workout, with a smoothy in hand, and proceed to walk into the Target store. This car is allowed for handicapped parking.
Either this person is borrowing the car of a person who truly is handicapped, or the entire system of what defines someone as handicapped is more broken then they are.
Life is not for the lazy.
These newer implants could still cause tissue damage over time at a slower rate, but rats don't live more than 2-3 years. Sounds like they need to test this in a species with a longer lifespan before using human subjects.
"My favorite is when seeing a (seemingly) healthy person get out of a car from a previous hard athletic workout, with a smoothy in hand, and proceed to walk into the Target store. This car is allowed for handicapped parking.
Either this person is borrowing the car of a person who truly is handicapped, or the entire system of what defines someone as handicapped is more broken then they are."
Or they come and get a person in wheelchair in that persons' car whom they brought earlier.
That's how I do it.
I'm aware of the looks that people throw at me.:-)
No, those two things are nothing the same. Hitting the door button does not make the door button unavailable to the next person who actually needs it. Filling up a parking space does.
I hit those buttons (with my knee or elbow) all the time. I especially like to do that when entering/exiting a public restroom. Do you have any idea how many people use the toilet and don't wash their hands? The first thing they touch after wiping their ass is that door handle!