Good Richard's Almanac: Man has TV remote implanted in brain

March 30, 2005

Man has TV remote implanted in brain

The Guardian is reporting that Matt Nagle has been the first human to have a computer interface implanted in his brain.

According to the article, Matt was paralyzed from the neck down after a vicious knife attack. Researchers have since connected an artifical hand directly to his brain, which he can control by simply thinking about it.

Nagle got involved in the latest trial after hearing about John Donoghue, a professor of neuroscience at Brown University on Rhode Island, whose company Cyberkinetics has developed an implant called BrainGate. Under Donoghue's instruction, Nagle was given a general anaesthetic before a disc the size of a poker chip was cut from his skull. After making an incision in the brain's protective membrane, a tiny array of 96 hair-thin electrodes, each protruding about a millimetre, was pressed onto the surface of his brain, just above a region of the sensory motor cortex that is home to the neuronal circuitry governing arm and hand movement. With the electrodes in position, the bony disc was replaced, leaving room for a tiny wire to connect the electrodes to a metal plate the size of a 10p piece that sits on Nagle's head like a button."

The article goes on to state that...

Since having the electrodes implanted in June last year, Nagle has been test-driving the technology, seeing what he, and it, are capable of. "We're evaluating his ability to do a whole range of things. We've hooked him to a computer that lets him turn a TV on and off, change channel and turn the volume up and down," says Donoghue.

Interesting.

Clive Thompson at Collision Detection suggests using the interface for computer games.

Richard

Posted by Richard at March 30, 2005 9:58 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.goodrichardsalmanac.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/25

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Man has TV remote implanted in brain:

» Implants lets Man Move Arm from Kosch News
Meet the mind readers Paralysed people can now control artificial limbs by thought alone. Ian Sample reports There's a hand lying on the blanket on Matt Nagle's desk and he's staring at it intently, thinking "Close, close," as the scientists gat... [Read More]

Tracked on March 31, 2005 11:42 AM

Comments

I wonder how long before the communication with the computer and the person becomes two-way? Kinda puts us somewhere between human and Borg.

Posted by: Ervin Kosch at March 31, 2005 11:45 AM