- AN AMERICAN scientist has entered the world of science fiction by implanting
electrodes in the brains of disabled people so that they can control a
computer by the power of thought.
-
- The implants have enabled two paralysed
people to move the cursor on the screen simply by thinking about moving
part of their body. They were able to convey messages such as "I'm
thirsty" or "please turn off the light" by pointing the
cursor at different icons.
-
- The hope is that eventually patients
will be able to communicate complex ideas just by thinking about them.
"If you can run a computer, you can talk to the world," Dr Ray
Bakay of Emory University in Atlanta, whose team developed the implants,
said.
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- A number of laboratories around the world
are working on brain implants, but the only devices licensed for use so
far are bionic ears for the profoundly deaf and chips which can control
the tremor caused by Parkinson's disease.
-
- The Emory implants go much further. They
consist of two hollow glass cones, each the size of a ballpoint pen tip,
placed into the brain's motor cortex, which controls body movements. The
cones are covered in chemicals that encourage nerve growth, extracted from
the patient's knees. Once installed, nerve cells grow into the cones and
attach themselves to tiny electrodes inside.
-
- The location of each cone is determined
by monitoring the patient's brain using scanners and identifying the most
active regions. Once the cones are in place and surrounded by nerve cells,
the patient is asked to think about moving some part of the body, and signals
from the electrodes are picked up by a small transmitter-receiver, amplified,
and used to control a computer. Depending upon which nerves grow into the
cones, each patient may have to think about moving a different part of
the body to achieve the same effect.
-
- They are trained by listening to a buzzer
which becomes faster and louder when they are thinking along the right
lines. Dr Bakay says that controlling the cursor soon becomes second nature.
-
- The first two patients, New Scientist
reports, were a woman with motor neurone disease, who was given the implants
18 months ago and has since died, and a 57-year-old man paralysed by a
stroke.
-
- They were taught very simple commands,
with one cone being used to move the cursor up and down and the other from
left to right. If they could give more complex commands, disabled people
could use them to make the computer speak for them. Dr Bakay warns that
this could still be years off. But he has secured funding from the US National
Institutes of Health to continue the research with three more patients.
-
- The British Telecom laboratories near
Ipswich have also done research into implantable chips, including a possible
memory chip which would take data from the eye and store it for a computer.
"There is a raft of wonderful benefits to bringing chips and circuits
inside human beings," said Dr Peter Cochrane, head of research.
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- __________________________
-
-
- In a related note...here is a recent
patented item of interest:
-
- Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 21:12:41 -0500
- From: Stephen MILES Lewis <elfis@ccsi.com
- To: UFO UpDates <updates@globalserve.net
- Subject: Patented Subcutaneous Programmable
Implant
-
- At the below url is an implant patent
from 1997
-
- http://patents.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/ifetch4?INDEX+PATBIB-ALL+0+21927+0+5+51095+OF+1
- +1+1+PN%2f5638832
-
- United States Patent 5,638,832
- Singer, et. al.
- June 17, 1997
-
- Programmable subcutaneous visible implant
-
- Abstract
-
- A subcutaneous implant for displaying
various re-programmable information or decorative patterns beneath the
surface of the skin of a person or an animal. A biologically inert subcutaneous
implant is constructed of a flexible material so as to conform to the skin's
surface. The subcutaneous implant includes a battery for providing power
to the implant. The subcutaneous implant also includes a receiver for receiving
programming information from a user, and a display for displaying the programming
information through the skin.
-
- Inventors: Singer; Andrew J. (Palo Alto,
CA); White; Sean (San Francisco, CA).
- Assignee: Interval Research Corporation
(Palo Alto, CA).
- Appl. No.: 477,096
- Filed: Jun. 7, 1995
-
- Intl. Cl.: A61B 19/00
- Current U.S. Cl.: 128/899
- Field of Search: 128/897-899, 654
-
- References Cited | [Referenced By]
- U.S. Patent Documents 4,233,964
- Nov., 1980 Jefferts et al. 128/899 5,041,826
- Aug., 1991 Milheiser 5,074,318
- Dec., 1991 Campbell et al. 5,205,286
- Apr., 1993 Soukup et al.128/899 5,322,034
- Jun., 1994 Willham et al. 5,324,940
- Jun., 1994 Ekstrom 5,482,008
- Jan., 1996 Stafford et al. 128/899
-
- Primary Examiner: Cohen; Lee S.
- Assistant Examiner: Lacyk; John P.
- Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brooks &
Kushman
-
- 19 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures
|
