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| Paralysed people could get movement back through thought control | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Scientists have moved closer to allowing paralysed people to control artificial limbs with their thoughts following a breakthrough in technology that gave rats an extra sense. | Scientists have moved closer to allowing paralysed people to control artificial limbs with their thoughts following a breakthrough in technology that gave rats an extra sense. |
| A brain implant that allows the animals to "feel" the presence of invisible infrared light could one day be used to provide paralysed people with feedback as they move artificial limbs with their thoughts, or it could even extend a person's normal range of senses. | A brain implant that allows the animals to "feel" the presence of invisible infrared light could one day be used to provide paralysed people with feedback as they move artificial limbs with their thoughts, or it could even extend a person's normal range of senses. |
| Miguel Nicolelis, a neurobiologist at Duke University in North Carolina who led the work, is a pioneer in the development of brain implants that can be used to control computers or prosthetic arms by thought alone. | Miguel Nicolelis, a neurobiologist at Duke University in North Carolina who led the work, is a pioneer in the development of brain implants that can be used to control computers or prosthetic arms by thought alone. |
| His aim is to develop ways to help paralysed people regain mobility and ultimately to build an "exoskeleton" that can move a paralysed person's arms and legs in response to their thoughts. | His aim is to develop ways to help paralysed people regain mobility and ultimately to build an "exoskeleton" that can move a paralysed person's arms and legs in response to their thoughts. |
| Nicolelis was speaking about his latest work, which was published in Nature Communications, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. | Nicolelis was speaking about his latest work, which was published in Nature Communications, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. |
| His results were presented as part of a series of sessions on advances in brain-machine interfaces, at which other scientists presented a bionic hand that could connect directly to the nerves in a person's arm and provide sensory feedback of what they were holding. | His results were presented as part of a series of sessions on advances in brain-machine interfaces, at which other scientists presented a bionic hand that could connect directly to the nerves in a person's arm and provide sensory feedback of what they were holding. |
| Until now, neurological prosthetics have largely been demonstrated as a way to restore a loss of function. Last year, a 58-year-old woman who had become paralysed after a stroke demonstrated that she could use a robotic arm to bring a cup of coffee to her mouth and take a sip, just by thinking about it. | Until now, neurological prosthetics have largely been demonstrated as a way to restore a loss of function. Last year, a 58-year-old woman who had become paralysed after a stroke demonstrated that she could use a robotic arm to bring a cup of coffee to her mouth and take a sip, just by thinking about it. |
| The work was part of a US clinical trial of a brain implant called BrainGate, developed by neuroscientists at Brown University. | The work was part of a US clinical trial of a brain implant called BrainGate, developed by neuroscientists at Brown University. |
| In his latest work, Nicolelis has created the first device to extend a healthy animal's natural ability. "What we did here was to demonstrate that we could create a new sense in rats by allowing them to 'touch' infrared light that mammals cannot detect." | In his latest work, Nicolelis has created the first device to extend a healthy animal's natural ability. "What we did here was to demonstrate that we could create a new sense in rats by allowing them to 'touch' infrared light that mammals cannot detect." |
| He inserted an electrode into the part of a rat's brain that processes touch and fed into it electrical signals that corresponded to a local source of infrared light. After a month of training, Nicolelis found that rats' touch-processing brain cells were responding to both touch and infrared light at the same time. | He inserted an electrode into the part of a rat's brain that processes touch and fed into it electrical signals that corresponded to a local source of infrared light. After a month of training, Nicolelis found that rats' touch-processing brain cells were responding to both touch and infrared light at the same time. |
| "This shows that the adult brain can acquire new capabilities that have never been experienced by the animal before," he said. | "This shows that the adult brain can acquire new capabilities that have never been experienced by the animal before," he said. |
| In the future, Nicolelis said it might be possible to use prosthetic devices to restore vision – for example, if a person's visual cortex had been damaged – by training a different part of the brain to process the information. | In the future, Nicolelis said it might be possible to use prosthetic devices to restore vision – for example, if a person's visual cortex had been damaged – by training a different part of the brain to process the information. |
| "Or you could even augment normal brain function using the principles we're describing here in non-invasive ways to deliver the information," he said. | "Or you could even augment normal brain function using the principles we're describing here in non-invasive ways to deliver the information," he said. |
| "We could learn to detect other sorts of signals that we normally don't see or experience; the perceptual range could increase." | "We could learn to detect other sorts of signals that we normally don't see or experience; the perceptual range could increase." |
| Also at the AAAS, Silvestro Micera of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne presented the latest version of a prosthetic hand that can provide real-time sensory feedback, enabling its user to carefully control grasp. | Also at the AAAS, Silvestro Micera of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne presented the latest version of a prosthetic hand that can provide real-time sensory feedback, enabling its user to carefully control grasp. |
| The prototype version of this bionic hand had only two broad areas that provided sensory feedback. The latest version gives feedback to the user from individual fingertips as well as the palm and wrists, giving people a more lifelike experience. | The prototype version of this bionic hand had only two broad areas that provided sensory feedback. The latest version gives feedback to the user from individual fingertips as well as the palm and wrists, giving people a more lifelike experience. |
| "The idea would be that it could deliver two or more sensations," Micera said. "You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist." | "The idea would be that it could deliver two or more sensations," Micera said. "You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist." |
| Nicolelis said his work on infrared light in rats could also be used to deliver feedback for paralysed people given prosthetic limbs. He suggested: "Imagine you're wearing an exoskeleton and you're walking and you bend your knees – that flexing could generate a pulse of infrafred light that is proportional to the angle of deflection and that signal could be transmitted to a sensor that delivers that signal to a patient's brain." | Nicolelis said his work on infrared light in rats could also be used to deliver feedback for paralysed people given prosthetic limbs. He suggested: "Imagine you're wearing an exoskeleton and you're walking and you bend your knees – that flexing could generate a pulse of infrafred light that is proportional to the angle of deflection and that signal could be transmitted to a sensor that delivers that signal to a patient's brain." |
| Because light travels so fast, the feedback from the artificial limbs would be even quicker than normal nerve impulses and the person using the prosthetic would simply "feel" the movement of the bionic limb as a different type of touch. | Because light travels so fast, the feedback from the artificial limbs would be even quicker than normal nerve impulses and the person using the prosthetic would simply "feel" the movement of the bionic limb as a different type of touch. |
| Micera plans to trial the bionic hand in a patient in Rome later this year, who he said was in their 20s. | Micera plans to trial the bionic hand in a patient in Rome later this year, who he said was in their 20s. |
| He said that the ultimate aim of his prosthetic hand project was to make users feel it is as natural as possible. "We hope that one day it will be embedded in the arm and the user will just forget it is there," he said. "It is intended to be as lifelike as possible." | |
| Three more findings | Three more findings |
| From the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston | From the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston |
| 1 Chimpanzees get depressed too | 1 Chimpanzees get depressed too |
| Martin Bruene, a psychiatrist at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany presented a session on how great apes in captivity often show behaviours that would be psychiatrically interesting in people, such as self-mutilation, aggression, fear or social withdrawal. The good news is that anti-depressants can be used to help – Dutch behavioural biologist Godelieve Kranendonk found they worked to help former lab chimps combat depression and trauma. | |
| 2. Mars Curiosity update | 2. Mars Curiosity update |
| John Grotzinger, the chief scientist for everyone's favourite Mars rover, Curiosity, updated the world on the adventuring robot's latest movements on the Gale Crater on the red planet. Last week it drilled a hole into the surface of the planet and the extracted dust is now making its way through a series of sieves before the finest dust – grains less than 150 microns across – are analysed in the rover's onboard laboratories to look for interesting chemistry. | John Grotzinger, the chief scientist for everyone's favourite Mars rover, Curiosity, updated the world on the adventuring robot's latest movements on the Gale Crater on the red planet. Last week it drilled a hole into the surface of the planet and the extracted dust is now making its way through a series of sieves before the finest dust – grains less than 150 microns across – are analysed in the rover's onboard laboratories to look for interesting chemistry. |
| 3. Dark matter | 3. Dark matter |
| Nobel laureate Samuel Ting, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was billed to speak about the first results from his dark-matter-hunting experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which was launched to the International Space Station in 2011. Almost two decades in the making, the AMS results were hotly anticipated as the first glimpse at what the mysterious dark matter, which makes up around a quarter of the mass of the universe, might be made from. Unfortunately for the assembled crowds, Ting kept his powder dry, despite much prodding and questioning, revealing nothing about the year's worth of data from AMS except to say that they would be "important" results and would be made public when he submitted them to a scientific journal within a few weeks. |