AI Generated Image
Brain implant lets paralyzed man feed himself
Boing Boing • • health
Key Points:
- Keith Thomas, paralyzed from the chest down after a 2020 diving accident, can now feed himself, drink, and feel sensations thanks to brain implants that bypass his spinal injury.
- Developed by Prof Chad Bouton's team at the Feinstein Institutes, the "double neural bypass" system uses brain electrodes to control arm and hand muscles and pressure sensors to relay touch sensations back to the brain.
- After 35 weeks of training, Thomas's arm strength improved significantly, with an 86% increase in his right arm and 62% in his left.
- Remarkably, some restored movement and sensation persist even when the device is turned off, with these gains lasting more than two years according to follow-up studies.
