brain computer interface Archives

Video: Doctors Stunned as Brain-Computer Interface Allows Quadriplegic Woman to Feed Herself

December 17, 2012/2 Comments/in Featured, The Offbeat /by Ian Sample

A woman who is paralysed from the neck down has stunned doctors with her extraordinary skill at using a robotic arm that is controlled by her thoughts alone.

The 52-year-old patient, called Jan, lost the use of her limbs more than 10 years ago to a degenerative disease that damaged her spinal cord. The disruption to her nervous system was the equivalent to having a broken neck.

But in training sessions at the University of Pittsburgh, doctors found she quickly learned to make fluid movements with the brain-controlled robotic arm, reaching levels of performance never seen before.

Doctors recruited the woman to test a robotic arm that is controlled by a new kind of computer program that translates the natural brain activity used to move our limbs into commands to move the robotic arm.

The design is intended to make the robotic arm more intuitive for patients to use. Instead of having to think where to move the arm, a patient can simply focus on the goal, such as “pick up the ball”. Read more from this story HERE.

A Future Where We’ll Actually Be Able to Download Memories From Our Brains

October 26, 2012/1 Comment/in The Offbeat /by Stuart Withers

It sounds like the stuff of science-fiction and geek ideology, but the ability to download memories may be a full blown reality for the future generations of planet Earth. Science (well, Neuroscience, Neuroengineering, and Optogenetics to be exact) is getting closer and closer to creating a solution for this fascinating prospect.

Just imagine being able to download memories from a favorite holiday or event in your life. You’d be able to store these memories forever and then simply upload them again when you want to reminisce. You’d be able to remember your favorite gig like it was today, not yesterday. It’s pretty awesome stuff, but is it really feasible?

[O]ne genius from MIT named Ed Boyden is developing ways of using light to decode brain patterns and control the activity of neurons. This is the deeply complex world of Optogenetics. Through scouring nature’s wonders, he’s found proteins that convert light into electricity. He can then insert these proteins into neurons via a harmless virus that most of you reading this probably already have. When he flashes light on these neurons, their electrical signalling pathways activate. Ed can then go on to map out these pathways with the help of specially designed computer software. He’s already used this approach to cure analogs of PTSD in mice, and hopes to develop ‘Neuroprosthetics’ in the future, which could help restore neurons to full functionality in conditions such as Alzheimer’s, where neural functionality is lost.

Scientists Successfully ‘Hack’ Brain To Obtain Private Data

August 28, 2012/2 Comments/in Featured, News /by Peter V. Milo

Photo credit: ssoosay

It sounds like something out of the movie “Johnny Mnemonic,” but scientists have successfully been able to “hack” a brain with a device that’s easily available on the open market.

Researchers from the University of California and University of Oxford in Geneva figured out a way to pluck sensitive information from a person’s head, such as PIN numbers and bank information.

The scientists took an off-the-shelf Emotiv brain-computer interface, a device that costs around $299, which allows users to interact with their computers by thought.

The scientists then sat their subjects in front of a computer screen and showed them images of banks, people, and PIN numbers. They then tracked the readings coming off of the brain, specifically the P300 signal.

The P300 signal is typically given off when a person recognizes something meaningful, such as someone or something they interact with on a regular basis.

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