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Brain Implants Allow Paralyzed Monkeys To Walk (nature.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Nature: For more than a decade, neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine has been flying every few months from his lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to another lab in Beijing, China, where he conducts research on monkeys with the aim of treating spinal-cord injuries. The commute is exhausting -- on occasion he has even flown to Beijing, done experiments, and returned the same night. But it is worth it, says Courtine, because working with monkeys in China is less burdened by regulation than it is in Europe and the United States. And this week, he and his team report the results of experiments in Beijing, in which a wireless brain implant -- that stimulates electrodes in the leg by recreating signals recorded from the brain -- has enabled monkeys with spinal-cord injuries to walk. The treatment is a potential boon for immobile patients: Courtine has already started a trial in Switzerland, using a pared-down version of the technology in two people with spinal-cord injury. The team first mapped how electric signals are sent from the brain to leg muscles in healthy monkeys, walking on a treadmill. They also examined the lower spine, where electric signals from the brain arrive before being transmitted to muscles in the legs. Then they recreated those signals in monkeys with severed spinal cords, focusing on particular key points in the lower part of the spine. Microelectrode arrays implanted in the brain of the paralyzed monkeys picked up and decoded the signals that had earlier been associated with leg movement. Those signals were sent wirelessly to devices that generate electric pulses in the lower spine, which triggered muscles in the monkeys' legs into motion.
... monkeys with spinal-cord injuries ...
Meaning: monkeys with spinal-cords we have slashed and butchered
If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
Assuming this can be ported to humans, it's the beginning of something huge.
Mind-bogglingly huge, in fact. Since it should be usable for arms, hands, and such as well....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
So, what are the options for tinkering with the signal before passing it on?
Remote control meat puppet? Real-world RealPlayer experience, with all your attempts at motion suffering from unpredictable stuttering and buffering? The possibilities for creative signal processing are endless!
... because working with monkeys in China is less burdened by regulation than it is in Europe and the United States ...
Probably applies to people too.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Finally a story about Donald Trump!
I hate all animal testing. This kind of work should be done on volunteer humans with nothing to lose.
The first thing they would say is "thanks for severing my spinal cord you fucking assholes!"
In case you're interested in the details, or know someone who would be willing to try.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2...
Some years ago, Prof. Courtine gave a TED talk when they were still doing the experiments in rats.
The underlaying mechanism is that the electrical stimulation brings the remaining neural structures in the spinal cord into an active state (i.e. where neurons can transmit electrical information). If you can time the stimulations correctly with the rat's own intention to walk, you facilitate neural plasticity (the ability of neurons to create new connections). This means that after an extensive training, the rat's remaining neural structures rewire and give the animal the ability to walk again by itself, in certain cases even without electrical stimulation.
The monkeys in the current paper have a completely severed spinal cord and so there are no remaining neural structures. The "therapy" paradigm was thus changed and instead relies on a permanently active neurostimulation system, that links the brain directly to the region below the injury in the spinal cord.
They can't conquer the world if they're paralyzed. It's the non paralyzed monkeys, or rather non-human apes, that you don't want to talk.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
That has absolutely no bearing to this research. In fact, I'd probably prefer mine to be wired. I'll carry the wire and not the extra battery. And not worry about missing packets.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
All medicine requires testing, likewise personal products. Your blood pressure medicine, cholesterol, and the compound which will likely save your life one day. My sister was a research scientist for a pharma, she performed tests on mice which as you would put it had there brains sliced and butchered in order to test a drug which could save someone's life during a stroke. My grandmother died from a stroke. So I respect your opinion, this being said your only entitled to it you refuse any help in the form of compounds which will one day save your life.
I hate what slashdot has become a bunch of people with opinions that aren't personally vetted and thought through. No one thinks, reads the article does additional research then comments with pertinent and thoughtful responses.
Feh. Monkeys. Try mine-shafts filled with "stimulating" females for re-populating the Earth. No implants, gets 'em right on their feet.
Mein Führer... I CAN WALK !!
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
Haven't you read the short story "Manna", at the end of which the protagonist gets taken to "paradise" (Australia) by beautiful women traveling in transparent, futuristic airplanes?
Once in paradise you get your spinal cord cut and spliced with a remote-controlled implant, wirelessly connected to a central authority that monitors what you do. Whenever an infraction is detected, they just paralyze your body. It was a long time since I read it, but I think the author was sincere in his belief about this "paradise". As frightening as that seems.
CAPTCHA: "locator"
My brother is paraplegic so, to me, this sounds freaking awesome.