National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Man Moves Objects With His Mind Using New Sensor


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A tiny sensor studded with electrodes and implanted in the motor cortex of a person's brain—an area associated with movement—has allowed the paralyzed man to control a computer cursor.

The man's brain signals traveled via wire from the sensor to a penny-size pedestal on the top of his head. Wires connected this pedestal to a computer, which translated the brain's commands into code that was used to manipulate electronics—opening email, grasping candy with a robotic arm, and so on.

Illustration courtesy Nature