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Bionic Implants Stimulate Muscle Contractions
joshv writes "Researchers at University of Southern California have developed implants about the size of a grain of rice which are injected directly into muscles to stimulate muscular contractions in stroke victims. The implants have no external connections or wires and are activated and presumedly powered by an external radio signal. "
This could be bad
I wonder if these things could be implanted in normal people and used to flex your muscles while you sleep, make me a buff body while im dreaming of Sarah Michelle Gellar.
I could put a sticker on my forehead stating Powered by Rice Bubbles.
Knock a few people off and become a genuine cereal killer.
Oh dear... the mind wonders....
*grin*
tune those babies to different frequencies, build a controller, get close enough to someone, then dance them like a puppet!
This reminds me of an episode of star trek where Spock gets his brain stolen by alien space babes and Jim uses a remote controller device to move Spock around.
Now maybe not having a brain won't be the disadvantage it once was.
Athletes - using this device for that 'workout without a workout'.
Vanity - look at how many buy steroids/the charles atlas muscle-training program. Now his dynamic resistance program will actually work..with the stimulation.
And the link in case the biggest market interests you. Such machines are allready used for muscle excersize.
If it was said on slashdot, it MUST be true!
see above
I know I'd rather have a few of these connected with each other and my spinal cord than wait around for a biochemical breakthrough :)
Save the children; quit overparenting!
interactive music ;-) (i know its not the same kinda radio waves, but still)
Just picture this in your mind... the nurse walks in to help you, and leans over you to grab something and acts as an antenna for the local radio station. This sets off the implants and jerks your arm up suddenly, punching the nurse in the tummy
ok, ok, i know, it could never happen, but the first thing i think of when i see "controlled by radio waves" is something like that ^_^ besides, it would be awesome to get too close to your computer and have it's signals make you type faster, lol
What if the Drug company Phzer (makers of viagra) got ahold of stuff like this... hmmm......
It's good to see more and more of these things coming true!
I work for a company closely affiliated with the one who developed this device (about a 7 year process). Here's two URLS to the people involved, although information there is sparse. http://www.advancedbionics.com These people also market Cochlear implants that restore hearing to totally deaf patients. http://www.aemf.org This is the non-profit R&D foundation that has actually done most of the development. If anyone really wants to know more about these devices, please contact them... Dave Marsh Systems Engineer Medical Research Group, Inc.
remember the book "diamond age?" by neal stephenson? the punk kid had those bought implants which stimulated his muscles and made him stronger? there's no mention of that here but it must be a consideration...once available freely this could be perhaps the most effective path to better health one could ever imagine..obese people could use them to increase their metabolism and lose weight...others could just use them to get buff! what an idea! i love it...reminds me of the scenes in "The Matrix" as well where they rebuilt his atrophied muscles...
"Having determined the correct thresholds, doctors can then download a set of exercise programs into a portable controller for the patient to take home."
Imagine having grandma hooked up to the net. Makes the whole Borg thing look sort of possible. You could get your webcam repointed effortlessly.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
but hey, as it is these could help people with irregular heartbeat and/or damaged cardiac muscle..
Save the children; quit overparenting!
The article states that stroke victims are at risk of thrombosis, yet these devices are made out of glass capillaries, which is thrombogenic. Furthermore, while the current electrode-electrical therapies can be painful, I want you all to consider the size of a 12-gauge needle: 3.7mm in diameter. I would kindly prefer the electrodes, thank you sir. Furthermore, think of the hacking possibilities here: who wants to hack into the DoD and post silly messages when you can make the old lady next door get jiggy with it at your control...it'd be like having your own programmable puppet. Lastly, the critic mentioned in the article is correct: long-term studies are needed. These lil things can become lodged in joints, escape into the bloodstream, etc. They might be carcinogenic. Who knows? Its time for a randomized trial.
That said, it IS a step in the right direction. Current science is 99% focused on the chemistry of neurology...theyre forgetting the electrical aspects of it. Not until doctors looked at the heart as an electrical organ did they really do anything that can be described as "cardiology," and the brain is every bit as electrical as the heart.
I can't wait for the latest 2600:
"Why the Government is Bad"
"How to Control Your Neighbors Using a Modified Transmitter"
"Why Businesses are Bad"
Plus, the heartwarming essay
"Help, Help, I'm Being Oppressed!"
Seriously, though, I wonder what happens when two people with the same technology stand next to one another. If the devices are powered by the radio waves and are this small, they aren't likely to have half a million codes like garage door openers and the like. Will I be able to raise your hand in class? Force the dumb kids to answer questions?
---sig---
Just take this scenario, and mebbe the Olympics would be a real problem?
What if....
You plant these devices in an athlete, and use the devices to help the athlete attain supreme levels of fitness.
Then you manage to make a device that can track their movements (using sensors in newer devices) and at the point just before they reach maximum muscle compression, it gives a little 'boost' to give better, fuller, and more uniform muscle compression.
Then you put this athlete in the Olympics, and they blow the competition away. They get screened for steroids, but none are present.
So, does this mean that the screening test for the Olympics should now include an X-Ray exam as well?
Anyone remember that lousy Star Wars novel which unfortunately became a CD and a video game? I don't remember the title, but I do recall that the main villain made himself buff by lying in a box while his nervous system was systematically stimulated to exercise his muscles. Perhaps a bit far-fetched, but...
One of the issues of prolonged space flight, if memory serves, is loss of muscle tone. If cosmonauts (or astronauts) have to, say, remain strapped in for extended accelleration and suchforth, this technology would allow them to keep the muscles active. Wacky.
Of course, one can't help but recall the German scientist in Dr. Strangelove...
===
-Ravagin
Karma: T-rexcellent.
I don't know how many people are familiar with current devices to do this, but they are all unseemly and often painful. This looks to be a more focused way of stimulating just the muscles you need.
But on the radio note, think about the Dallas hospital that had all of their heart monitors go off line due to interference from an HDTV signal. That's the scary part...
~Jason
if you could somehow train your finger muscles to be faster or something.
;-)
or maybe i'm wrong here. that might not quite be what it'd be used for. but definitely get someone else to control you.. to kinda.. circumvent things like (in the Matrix) when they could upload a program into their brain and instantly "learn" something (like, how to fly a helicopter); just get a pilot to control you temporarily. as long as they didn't decide to kill you...
ouch.
neat, though. I esp like idea of stimulating muscle tone. i'm too lazy to work out.
Insert mind here.
I don't care if I sound uptight, but this grit thing simply isn't funny. Particularly after the Nth time hearing different variations of it.
We can have a Granny X10 settings... That would be great!
Actually the IOC is considering what to do about mechanical enhancements. One American runner appeared in the last Olympics with a partially artificial nea joint. It didn't seam to have any significant effect on performance except that the natural parts they replaced were so badly damaged that the Athlete couldn't walk.
The question they are afraid to ask now is what happens when you take a perfectly healthy sprinter and use surgery to shut off the pain center in his brain then turn him loose in a middle distance event? What happens when you add micro motors and other mechanical advancements to legs? How exactly do you deal with a boxer who has a metal skeleton from the elbow down, including 10 LB steal fists ?
The possibilities are endless and the IOC needs to legislate this early. It is possible to make sensible laws before the technology is known too. I.e. You can't clone a racehorse. This was law before cloning of mammals was feasible. The regulation doesn't even use the word clone. Rather it says that "Natural mating between a male and female of the species is the only way to produce a hoarse". That's why retired Geldings are sold to the police or shot and fed to big cats at the zoo.
Perhaps, "You can't compete if you use any body parts that are not a natural human organ" ( It can be more restrictive if people do creative things with transplants. ). we could then have an event where the best compete regardless of surgery, steroids etc...
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
This is so not going to lead to better health.
Perfect bodies with piss-poor cardiovascular systems? They could bench 250, but be out of breath by the end of their first rep! Not unless you somehow can also regulate and exercise the heart and lungs along with the 'muscle' in question.
For obese people, this may have some effect; but if all it does is make them hungrier because their muscles are doing more work, and being hungrier makes them eat more, then nothing will hae changed.
This seems ideal for people who want to improve their tone, their looks, and keep unused muscles at a constant fitness, rather than improve fittness, bulk, or strength.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Who is working to port Linux to these things?
Simon
The real linux_penguin has Slashdot ID 101961. Anyone else is an impostor. Including Bruce Perens.
Here here for open source! Before the open source Natalie Portman I felt I was destined to date ignorant pretty girls who didn't understand what all the unix workstations in my apartment were for. Now thanks to open source Natalie Portman, a few lines of code here and there and she understand the wonders of a Decstation 5000/120 and why the NeXTCUBE is still the most sexy box ever made.
F /...
THANK YOU OPEN SOURCE!
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Openstep/NeXTSTEP/Solaris/FreeBSD/Linux/ultrix/OS
--- I do not moderate.
My grandfather had a stroke a few months ago, and he could not _stop_ moving. I don't think I see how this would be helpful. Additionally, he was mentally damaged, but he still had control of his limbs to tell them what to do, but they were also get false signals, which was the problem. Might this technology be more helpful in para/quadrapallegics?
You really have to admire this bloke's persistance - I think that he's posted a comment on every discussion on /. in the last few days.
I live around a mile from the national rehab center. I am on speaking terms with some of the members of Jamaica's Paralimic team.
:)
I wouldn't miss it for the world
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Now this was different. I don't think it should be moderated as a troll. How about a -1; creative?
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
"Beowulf says 'bend your legs'"
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
now why the hell did that get moderated down?