Friday, July 14, 2006

A Brain-Computer Interface!

This is incredibly fascinating, I think:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blog/science/3344501.html

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award winner Dr. John Donoghue reported in the
journal Nature that a man paralyzed from the neck down was able to control a
computer, play games, change the channel on a television and manipulate a robot
using only his thoughts, through a neural implant called the Braingate.

[...] Donoghue's remarkable brain-to-computer interface [...] listens for a specific sequence of neural signals (for instance, nerve firings that make the right cheek twitch), and then uses that sequence as a trigger for performing a specific action, for instance changing the channel on the TV, or displaying a specific letter. Eventually, patients learn how to fire that sequence of neural impulses without affecting any movement. They learn, literally, to control a computer with their brain alone.

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