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Biotech Science

Brain Chip Approved For Paralysis Research 183

Posted by Hemos from the try-it-out dept.
dalillama writes "The BBC is reporting that tests are underway for the clinical trials of the "Brain Gate" computer chip, placed in the brains of paralysis patients. They hope the chips will map out nerve impulses which are sent to limbs, so that they can then be translated into computer code and sent to future artificial limbs. " Thanks to Robert Brooks for pointing out this closely related piece.
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Brain Chip Approved For Paralysis Research More

Brain Chip Approved For Paralysis Research

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  • Im as dumb as they come (Score:2, Interesting)

    by yuri82 ( 236251 )
    Why cant they just connect the brain to the legs and get the guy moving?

    Im thinking in the case where a person JUST lost movement on the legs due to an accident, etc...

    • Re:Im as dumb as they come (Score:5, Funny)

      by 3.5 stripes ( 578410 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:29AM (#8904714)
      Because they don't know which parts to connect. It would suck if every time you had to go pee your right leg would start shaking uncontrollably.

      • Re:Im as dumb as they come (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        What, you mean yours doesn't???
      • You may only require knowing which AREA of the brain to connect. It has this neat ability to adapt to things. If this "chip" is connected to an artificial limb, but it's "understanding" of the brain signals is incorrect, the person may learn to manipulate the limb as desired anyway due to some relearning in the brain. Using this line of thinking, who needs the special chip? A viable connection to the right part and some feedback (in the form of a real limb) is all you may need.
        • Here is a question: Do we all produce the same brain signals to carry out movements? I imagine those wishing to have bionic limbs will have to go through a training regiments which will involve having their brain hooked into a machine.
        • You may only require knowing which AREA of the brain to connect. It has this neat ability to adapt to things.

          Yeah, there was this cool experiment some time ago with a mouse where they severed the spinal cord and "encouraged" the nerve tissue to grow back together. Although everything was cross-connected, the mouse's brain adapted and mobility began to be restored. The researchers did not expect this kind of success. They were only looking to see if they could make the neurons grow back, thus the reaso

      • Judging by the state of public urinals, I'd say this is a common problem.
      • Actually, I keep wondering about this drug I heard about years ago... I think it came from research at Purdue. They refused a dogs spinal cord with it. The interesting part was that they were saying the brain has a certain ability to relearn nerve pathways. Seriously, they showed a little dog dragging its lower body around, then walking along on all fours again.

        Whatever it was, I was thinking, "Jeeze, I'm gunna live to see the end of paralysis."
    • Tougher than it sounds. Even in the 23rd century, McCoy still needed to put the Hellraiser-style colander on his head before he was able to put Spock's brain back in.

    • Re:Im as dumb as they come (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Merkuri22 ( 708225 ) <merkuri@@@gmail...com> on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:40AM (#8904864)

      Why cant they just connect the brain to the legs and get the guy moving?

      That's the desired end result, I believe. However, it's not that simple. You need to figure out which part of the brain actually does the moving, which signal does what. Then you have to figure out which part of the leg to stimulate to make it move. Amputees would probably be easier to help than parapalegics, because when you make them an artificial arm or leg you know exactly how that limb works (the trick is telling it to move as easily as your natural limb). And in the future if this technology actually works there will probably be no physical connection between your brain and the paralized/artificial limb because to run wires through your body is uneccesary surgery and to run wires outside the body is unsightly. The connection will probably be wireless, though this opens up security issues (what happens if two parapalegics who have similar frequencies walk too close to each other... will one be able to move the other's leg if the interference is just right?)

      • In fact, as you write the problem is that people do not know what to connect to what. People who use a limb and still have for example part of the arm, will be retrained with special prosthetics: if you think you want to raise your shoulder, your hand actually closes. It takes a while for this to be trained, but at some point it is automatic. I guess it is the same with these implant chips: you have to "map" the signals.

        On another topic: the other problem with reattaching nerves is that it has failed so
        • Nervecells are the only ones which do not gwo back. But here stem cell research might bring a breaktrough!

          There has already been successful research in this area both with and without stem cells. As just one example, see this article [rds-online.org.uk].

      • Would I be able to hijack my very own bionic man via my bluwtooth enabled cell phone?

        --
        We can rebuild him, we have the technology
        --
      • Of course, just because it is wireless doesn't necessarily mean it would travel outside the body. Perhaps there's some way to contain the "chatter" within, and not give off the interfering signals.
      • You need to figure out which part of the brain actually does the moving
        In fact, some experiments (sciam ?) have shown that monkeys where able to guide a robotic arm with their brain.
        They did not target a specific area, actually the monkeys learned to use their brain in that way, with that plug.
      • I think getting the brain to control limbs through this process will be much easier than anticipated. I don't think you actually need to figure out which part of the brain is used to move the legs. All you need to do is connect this chip to some random patch of neurons in the general vicinity of your motor control area. Then, instead of making the computer figure out what patterns of neuronal activity mean "move leg", the person with the implant could train their brain to produce specific patterns for th

        • I'll bet that over a period of years, a person could learn to use artificial limbs in this way and be just as adept with them as with their natural limbs.

          Yes, but learning how to move your limbs again is frustrating and depressing, maybe even more so than not having that limb in the first place (note, I am not talking from experience and could be very very wrong). Have you ever tried to wiggle your ears or raise one eyebrow if you've never done it before? It feels impossible to move a muscle you've ne

          • Sure, it would be better if the computer could magically figure out what your brain means, but it would be a lot harder than letting the brain adapt naturally. We could have this technology now instead of in 10 years after we figure out how the brain's signals work. If I was a paraplegic, I'd happily spend years learning to work a brain implant that would allow me to affect the world again, even if it was hard. I mean, what else would I do?
    • they don't exactly know what part of the brain controls all the stages of motor movement... deciding to move, planning to move, executing the movement, and coordinating the movement (the decision area in particular isn't known for certain)

      Also, it depends on what kind of movement you are doing... and is the movement a voluntary one, a planned movement, or is it being done in response to a stimulus?

      I'd be interested to know exactly where they're mapping out these movements... motor planning is usually done
    • Let's see if we can get an example for ya. Imagine you had a computer and a working printer, connected by a cable [pacificcable.com]. It's one of these closed source jobs, where you don't know the communications protocol, just that it works. Now, have an accident, and chop the cable in half. Looking at the ends, you find that the designer went the easy route and none of the cables are colored (more efficient when you dont need that production stage, after all).

      Now, imagine you have 5,000 "wires" running in parallel, and
      • Luckily, the communications protocol is adaptive, and will re-wire itself to use whatever wires happen to still work, as long as there are enough of them, regardless of what they do.

        You'll never dance ballet again, of course, but you'll do reasonably well in day-to-day activities - and if you perform the surgery early enough (say, below age 6), there won't be a noticable difference in performance by the time they're an adult.

  • heard in bed (Score:2, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )
    "Honey, can you please reboot my dick? I accidently just did the cat. Thanks"

  • You Know It's Important News... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bcolflesh ( 710514 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:27AM (#8904688) Homepage
    ...when High Times [hightimes.com] picks it up!

  • Vey Cool (Score:5, Funny)

    by darth_MALL ( 657218 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:28AM (#8904694)
    Combine this with the robotic exoskelton legs that MIT(?) just revealed, and we'll have Stephen Hawking in the marathon in no time (a la Onion)

  • If I wanted a chip in my brain (Score:3, Funny)

    by cardshark2001 ( 444650 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:28AM (#8904700)
    I'd mouth off to John Ashcroft. That's how Bush got his.

  • I'd buy that for a dollar... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by beeglebug ( 767468 ) * on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:28AM (#8904702)
    From the article: "The signals will be monitored through wires emerging from the skull, which presents some danger of infection. The company is working on a wireless version"

    If they can work out a way to hook it into an 802.11g home network, i'd get one fitted, paralysis or not!

    Imagine being able to control devices in the home as easily as controlling a limb. Of course controlling those same devices when drunk would be another matter entirely...

    • Re:I'd buy that for a dollar... (Score:5, Funny)

      by DR SoB ( 749180 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:32AM (#8904755) Journal
      Honey, stop dreaming about internet p0rn, I'm trying to surf Stewart living and I keep getting re-directed!!

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:35AM (#8904789)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • And the Special Olympics would have to be renamed "The Superpower Olympics"...

      • Re:I'd buy that for a dollar... (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Nope,

        Geeks would be beaten up by bullies in larger, stronger, and better looking exoskeletons that all the girl exoskeletons want... I hate those bully exoskeletons!
        • > Geeks would be beaten up by bullies in larger, stronger, and better looking exoskeletons that all the girl exoskeletons want... I hate those bully exoskeletons!

          Nope,

          Exoskeletally-enhanced bullies beating up geeks would be h4x0r3d by geeks. They'd either learn to hack back (in which case, they'd become more like us), or would die hilarious deaths as their own exoskeletons were turned against them.

          Last words of that guy who bugged you in third grade: "g0dd4mn g33k m3ch5x0r1ng f4gz0rzzzaaaaaaaau

      • The days of geeks being beaten up would finally be over >:-)

        Nah. You'd go out in your exoskeleton and kick ass, but you'd stomp half of Tokyo in the process. Then the next day at school you'd get thumped by someone whose friends and/or relations you just hospitalised. Of course you could then take them on in another exoskeleton battle, but that would probably end really, really badly...

    • Remember that so far this technology is output only. Brain to computer, not vice versa. You might be able to throw out your keyboard and mouse, but you'd still need a monitor (for now, at least).
    • Heh...until someone hacks your WEP key and gets access to your brain!

      I can see it now, some guy is sitting at home and all of a sudden a script kiddie pulls up in front of his house with a laptop and his newly downloaded copy of Da' Chronic's Chronic Crip Controller and WEP Stealer. Suddenly Joe the Brain Chip tester starts running around bumping into the walls and doing backflips!

      The next day he walks outside and sees on his sidewalk: 3\/|1 |-|4>0r $7r||3$ 4g4||\|!!! f33r |\/|y 1337|\|3$$!!!

    • Brain bandwidth... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by phorm ( 591458 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:49AM (#8904977) Journal
      My question is: What is the bandwidth of the human brain. If we put it into terms of both latency (time before signal hits destination and a result is returned) and pipe size (how much data can we push through at a given time).

      Does our bring have a "ping." That is to say, if we had a leg where the nerve receptors has died, but the muscle nerves work (leprosy?), can you tell if it is moving when we want it to, or is the only return signal from the nerves that sense touch?

      It would be interesting to see if a wireless connection could handle brain bandwidth. I'd imagine that for the simple operatings such as moving an object etc low bandwidth is required. For a fully pluggable experience (how about integrating touch, hearing, and the optic nerve to pilot a mini-plane) I'd imagine that quite a lot of bandwidth is needed, as well as fairly low latency.

      But then again, I was recently at the doctor's doing exercises when I noticed that if I tried to do leg pumps too fast, my leg would be trying to "pull" when at times it should be doing a "push" and so I either get a short stroke or a shutter. Is this the same as a data collision or just lack of reaction speed due to the muscle not being well enough toned (the muscle is degenerated due to being immobilized from a break, but muscle tone is probably already average compared to most people).
      • Does our bring have a "ping." That is to say, if we had a leg where the nerve receptors has died, but the muscle nerves work (leprosy?), can you tell if it is moving when we want it to, or is the only return signal from the nerves that sense touch?

        We have sensory and motor neurons, and they are wholly distinct. You can theoretically lose all sense of feel, but still be able to move your muscle with the motor neuron. As a matter of fact, this is why, for example, chickens will keep moving after decapita


    • Of course, to stop users exploiting their new bionic power, they'd need to hardcode some directives [imdb.com] into this brain chip.

      Bonus points for those that can spot the link between this post and the parent.
    • Even better would be a two way device. This would be getting kinda like the matrix.

      So, rather than thinking 'I want to play the By The Way album' and your mp3 player starts playing it you could have it so that you think that and then you start to actually hear it as if it is playing even though it isn't.

      You could also make your stomach feel full when you think about eating, that could help us loose weight a lot easier. You could chat on IM and IRC without actually being at a computer, just a WIFI link t

  • How long until... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:28AM (#8904706)
    ...the porn / spam industry get's a hold of these?

    I can't wait until I start receiving the "enhance your member through the powers of bionics!" spam...

  • This sounds like a very cool development, but why not try to have the chip send impulses to a real limb rather than an artificial one. My (admittedly limited) understanding of the brain is that it sends an electric impulse to the muscles so why not try to emulate that impulse?
    • If I didn't misunderstand the article, that's on the to-do list.
      "The next step is trying to work out what computer coding to replicate the complex neural signals needed to direct limbs to move."
    • Much harder. Do you know what part of your leg you'd need to shock to make it move up instead of down? It's easier to program an artificial limb to move since you built the damn thing and know exactly what signals make it do what.

    • Re:Why artificial limbs? (Score:5, Funny)

      by dr_dank ( 472072 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:47AM (#8904951) Homepage Journal
      My (admittedly limited) understanding of the brain is that it sends an electric impulse to the muscles so why not try to emulate that impulse?

      Reverse engineering is the only way at the moment do so at the moment since the Supreme Being hasn't opened the source to the API.

      • Reverse engineering is the only way at the moment do so at the moment since the Supreme Being hasn't opened the source to the API.

        It is open sourced. You have all that DNA and RNA. You are freely open to make copies and modify it as you wish. (Remember sexual reproducation involves coping and modifing DNA.) Supreme Being isn't responsible if we don't get it right. Supreme Being being the Supreme Hacker Guru, doesn't use source code. SB programs directly in DNA and doesn't comment code. It's all there in
    • Aputees and other similar cases. If you fall into one of the following:

      a) Irreperably severed muscle
      b) Severely degenerated muscle (may be retoned, but for long-term degeneration it could be a long haul)
      c) Missing limbs

      If the muscle is broken, or the limb missing, then you haven't got anything to work with. Making the signal work with electronics is a large portion of the battle (in terms of mapping how human nerve impulses work) and being artificial limbs or electronic assistance equipment (think mot

  • Farscape.... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Didn't Scorpius implant a brain chip into Kryton?
  • It's about time we started working on things like this. I'm ready for my bionic eyeballs any time now, guys.

  • Reboot Feature (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tadmas ( 770287 ) <david AT tadmas DOT com> on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:31AM (#8904747) Homepage

    I wonder if they are going to have some kind of "reboot" feature in case the hardware starts failing or the software goes haywire. (Insert standard Windows BSOD joke here.) Seriously, though, I'd hate to see somebody's limbs just start moving erratically and without any control. That would be a nightmare.

    I don't know how they would actually implement such a feature, but it just seems kinda dangerous to me without it.

  • Follow the money (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pr0t0plasm ( 183810 ) <pr0t0plasmNO@SPAMluckymud.org> on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:36AM (#8904794) Homepage
    When Cyberkinetics was a lab at Brown University, I design an amplifier array for the wireless implant mentioned in the article. The medical possibilities for the research are really pretty interesting, especially once the next generation probe is done. The trouble is that the medical possibilities are icing, and the cake is a control system for the exoskeleton of the soldier of the future... that's right, another fine DARPA technology.

  • Yay! Neuromancer is just a step away. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Moderation abuser ( 184013 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:36AM (#8904796)
    OK, so you start with artificial limbs, move on to military projects with vision, audio, vehicle control, then in 30 years it hits the commercial market.

  • Gentlemen... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jacobhoupt ( 728382 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:37AM (#8904813)
    We have the technology. We can rebuild him, make him faster, stronger, better...

    Whooo chechechechechecheche...

  • Hack Your Friends! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Guildencrantz ( 234779 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:37AM (#8904821)
    How long before I can use my laptop to hack into my friend's motor control and make him dance?

    ~~Guildencrantz

  • Am I the only one (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:38AM (#8904838)
    who immediately thinks of a remotely controlled girlfriend with force-feedback? :)

  • Just in time to match Kurzweil's theory (Score:4, Interesting)

    by zapp ( 201236 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:40AM (#8904859)
    Ray Kurzweil [kurzweilai.net] wrote an interesting book [amazon.com] about the progression of technology over the next 100 years. Based on his law of accelerating returns, he predicts various events for the next few decades until the Singularity.

    The book was published in 2000, and already he'd made quite a few accurate predictions, and many since then have been accurate as well.

  • AI (Score:2, Insightful)

    by cifey ( 583942 )
    Instead of trying to map out the exact instructions which may change from person to person coudln't you just have an interface that learns the commands of the user via positive feed back?

  • Walking? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jetkust ( 596906 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:43AM (#8904901)
    I'm no expert, and it doesn't mention walking in the article, but I wonder if one will be able to walk using a system like this since the impulses from the nerve endings in the legs will never be sent back into the brain. It's kinda like trying to walk without being able to feel your legs. I doubt I could do it.
    • You could if their was more AI involved in the walking than the instructions coming from your brain. Of course, we have trouble making robots walk already, and this would be a similar problem.
  • That will be the first thing out of any non-computer-literate folk when they hear about anything computer-micro-chip-gadget these days.

    Imagine this conversation:

    "Hey, let's go for a walk?"
    "Love to honey, but my knee is too busy playing solitare."

  • When is it too far? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by consolidatedbord ( 689996 ) <brandonNO@SPAMihashacks.com> on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:48AM (#8904967) Homepage Journal
    While this is interesting and innovative technology, when is it too much? How much further will this go? Not to sound like a tinfoil fashion junkie, but what if this kind of stuff gets put into the wrong hands? Honestly. With companies like Cisco, APC, and others putting hardcoded backdoors into their products, what if someone decided the same was neccessary on a wireless version of this device? Don't get me wrong, new technology is amazing. But IMHO it is something to be feared and respected. Maybe somethings are best never invented. Pacemakers are awesome, but a chip to control muscle functions in the brains of paralysis patients seems a bit frightening. Especially if a wireless version is to emerge. No, it wouldn't be un-wep'ed 802.11b, but nonetheless this, to me is an alert. I don't know anyone personally who is paralyzed, so maybe I don't take this as seriously as others, but I can't see myself having a foreign object implanted into my brain any time soon. Of course extensive testing will be done to ensure that the product is usable for deployed to patients but can you imagine a failure of this? What if it (the chip) becomes uncontrollable for any number of reasons?
    • I'd think if you were completely paralized you'd jump (well, not literally, of course) to have this implanted. Even if it didn't allow you control of your limbs, anything to feel like you had some sort of influence on the outside world, even if it's just controlling the mouse on a computer, would be a big plus to any quadrepalegic, IMO.

      I mean, imagine it... not being able to move any of your arms or legs ever again. Being bedridden for the rest of your life doesn't sound like a very pleasant experience t
      • Why bother with the mobility chip when you can cut out the middle man and just implant a pleasure chip?
        • Eh, I'd feel like that was cheating, but if it was a choice between being paralized for the rest of my life and a pleasure chip I'd probably take the chip, too. ;)

          But seriously, it's probably not feasable, and even if it were it would probably be regulated. I mean, if everybody just got a pleasure chip installed then life as we know it would probably end because we'd all stay at home all day being "stimulated" until we starved and nothing would get done. ;)

  • map this. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by happyfrogcow ( 708359 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:49AM (#8904984)
    mapping the brain could be interesting. especially on boundary conditions like in programming. what happens when the brain dies, what are the last signals it sends out?

  • Ping Pong (Score:5, Funny)

    by randomErr ( 172078 ) <ervin.kosch@gmail . c om> on Monday April 19, 2004 @10:51AM (#8905005) Journal
    Dude, I just pinged your head. Your brain is lagging big time.
  • Very fitting is 0wnz0red [salon.com] by Cory Doctorow, the Nebula award l0ser from two stories ago.

  • Sure, you can get data out... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @11:01AM (#8905121)
    This method can get data out of the brain. But, strictly speaking, we've been able to do that for ages (not quite so directly or in a way that you can carry around easily, but still)... It will get a lot more interesting - and potentially dangerous - when we have something that can send info back into the brain, in the form of, say, images added directly to what the eye can see within the brain.

  • Telepathy is only a few years away (Score:3, Interesting)

    by randomErr ( 172078 ) <ervin.kosch@gmail . c om> on Monday April 19, 2004 @11:06AM (#8905205) Journal
    Imagine if you could communicate via a wireless connection. This could litterly let you do that.

    If these chips will let people walk again why not communicate with others with a similar chip via a low power network? Instant telepathy, just add water.

    This reminds of the premise of Ghost in the Shell. Whats next, Ghost hacking?
    fdisk /target:brain1
    format brain1:\
    copy c:\hackpattern.gz brain1:\

  • Obligatory Onion link (Score:3, Funny)

    by saforrest ( 184929 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @11:07AM (#8905212) Journal
    Stephen Hawking Builds Robotic Exoskeleton [theonion.com].

  • Wires (Score:4, Informative)

    by iantri ( 687643 ) <iantri@gPOLLOCKmx.net minus painter> on Monday April 19, 2004 @11:39AM (#8905778) Homepage
    This is an odd sort of question, but I've always wondered.. these implants with wires dangling out of them (like those experimental ones to make blind people see, for example).. what happpens if you snag them on something sharp?

    Does it go "RIIIP!" and a chunk of your skin is torn off the side of your head? ;)

  • One step closer to the real Dr. Octopus! (Score:3, Funny)

    by DurendalMac ( 736637 ) on Monday April 19, 2004 @11:40AM (#8905805)
    Now we need to perfect the genetic technology so that Spider Man can fight him off when he shows up and starts trashing New York.
  • This is very cool in a sense. I'd love to play around poking things in my brain to see what happens, but what if you break something. Your brain is not a hard drive which you can just reformat and start fresh. You are a sum of your life experiences and that makes you unique. Even the tiny characteristics in your brain makes you unique.

    If you get brain damage, the fact is, you are not the same person you were before. Think about frontal lobotomies. You may not know the difference and chances are no on
    • You don't "cease" to exist from any sort of brain damage. Do you disappear from a night of drinking? Nerve cells die naturally--do you cease to exist when you get old? But there is a risk. I view the paralyzed as test subjects--if this really does work, I would jump at the chance (as a non-paralyzed person) to do it.

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