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Brain implant lets man control computer by thought By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent Electronic Telegraph ISSUE 1238 Thursday 15 October 1998 A MAN has been able to control a computer by thought alone after receiving= an electronic implant that fused with his brain cells. The most immediate application of this marriage of man and machine would b= e for people who are totally paralysed, enabling them to express their thoug= hts or even control artificial limbs. The American surgeons involved say it is the first time that such a connec= tion has been made directly in the brain, rather than with nerves in the spine = or limbs. =A0 "If you can run a computer you can talk to the world," said Dr Roy Bakay, = of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, whose team developed the implants. He told a meeting of brain surgeons that he had performed two of the operations in which he persuaded the patients' brain cells to grow into hi= s implant, linking upwith its electronics. One of the patients, a 53-year-old man known only as JR, was almost totall= y paralysed by a stroke. He is dependent on a ventilator and cannot speak, although he is fully alert and intelligent and knows everything that is go= ing on around him. Once he received the implant he could control a cursor on a computer screen and point at different icons, triggering a computer voice = to make comments such as "I'm thirsty". Now that JR, who is in the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Geor= gia, can select phrases, his favourite is: "See you later. Nice talking with yo= u." The first volunteer, a woman suffering from a neuro-degenerative disease, = was given the implants 18 months ago and has since died. Dr Bakay said: "The trick is teaching the patient to control the strength = and pattern of the electric impulses being produced in the brain. After some training they are able to 'will' a cursor to move and then stop on a speci= fic point on the computer screen. If you can move the cursor you can stop on certain icons, send e-mail, turn a light on or off and interact with the environment. "Our hope is that soon we will be able to get to the point that we can con= nect the neural signals to a muscle stimulator in the patient's paralysed limb = and have them move that limb using the same principle that they use to move th= e cursor." Dr Bakay told the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Seattle that the implants consisted of two hollow glass cones, each no bigger than the tip = of a ballpoint pen. Each cone contained a tiny electrode. The doctors also inserted a natural human substance that encourages nerves= to grow, which they extracted from the man's knee. They inserted the cones in= to the patient's motor cortex, the region of the brain that controls movement= . Once the cones were inserted, the growth factor substances encouraged the man's brain cells to grow. Over several months they spread into the cones = and attached themselves to the electrodes. When the patient learned to think in the correct way, he could routinely trigger the electrode to send a signal to a small transmitter-receiver pla= ced just inside the skull. This transmitted to an amplifier worn outside the s= kull in a cap, which boosted the signal and sent it to the computer. Controllin= g the cursor soon became second nature, said Dr Bakay. But he added that it might take several more years before the implants could be used to give mo= re complex commands. To reach this stage had taken eight years, according to New Scientist magazine. Prof Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics expert at Reading University, said: "If they have actually gone into the brain and picked up signals wit= h electrodes that is very new. It is another very exciting step." He said th= at one of the major obstacles to the production of such a cyber-human had bee= n the moral issue of tampering with the brain of a healthy person. John Cavanagh, of the International Spinal Research Trust in Cheshunt, Her= ts, said: "If these implants can be developed then they could do an enormous amount to alleviate many illnesses." The team has been given funding to continue research with three more patie= nts. Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1998. "Electronic Telegraph" and "The Daily Telegraph" are trademarks of Telegra= ph Group Limited. These marks may not be copied or used without permission. janet paterson - 51/10 - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/ [log in to unmask]