A wireless chip to control robot limbs with the mind

Using your thoughts to control robot arms and robot legs are the next big thing currently in development for paraplegics. Proof of concepts have already shown that it is possible to read a person's thoughts and translate that to movement. For example, clinical studies with 'brain chips' show that we can translate thoughts to movement of robot arms, or robot legs, and even the fine movements of the finger can be simulated. Downside is that people have to be hooked up to computers in order to derive one's thoughts from the brain, but scientists have now created a chip that transmits brain activity wirelessly, which means thoughts can be read with no strings attached.

Thoughts electrically transferred between brains

Organ transplantations are nothing new nowadays, as hospitals are readily replacing various organs, including lungs, heart, kidneys and others. There is one organ that remains elusive, and that is the brain. It is obviously impossible to put the brain of one person in another body and make it work. It is also unclear what would happen: is it possible to transfer a personality from one body to another? While brain transplants remain impossible, several interesting studies revealed it is possible to partially replace brain tissue. Scientists from the Duke University School of Medicine have now found a way to transfer thoughts, in the form of behavioural patterns, from one rat to another by means of electrical stimulation.

Engineers make functional human ears with 3D printer

3D printers have rapidly gained interest from both scientists as well as the general public. Hailed as machines that can make everything, they are especially of interest to researchers in the field of regenerative medicine. Because 3D printers are capable of printing biological material as well, it is possible to create artificial tissues and organs in the lab, and use those for transplantation. In a recent study, scientists from the Cornell University managed to print a complete human ear.

First bionic eye now available for sale

Blindness has been impossible to cure for a very long time. More recently, we have begun to understand how the eye turns light into the electrical signals that stimulate the nerves leading to the brain. Because the brain is where our eye sight is actually formed, it is necessary to copy the necessary electrical pulses, should we wish to restore blindness in cases where the normal conduction system in the eye is no longer functional. An implant from the company Second Sight is now available in Europe, and has been shown to restore vision at least partly in transplanted patients.

Creating organs by printing stem cells

Because of a lack of donors it is highly necessary to find an alternative source of organs that can be used for transplantation. Recent studies have shown the success of using stem cells for lab-grown organs, but it is still troublesome to produce such tissues in high quantities. 3D-printing technologies appear to be the solution for this problem, as scientists have shown that such printers can be used for biological material as well. So far, however, stem cells could not be printed because they are too delicate and would die in the process. Researchers have now found a solution for this problem as well, paving the way for 3D-printed organs based on stem cells.

LED bandage is a personal treatment for skin cancer

Cancer treatment is intense and often results in severe side effects because anti-cancer drugs or radiotherapy can be quite toxic. For skin cancer, scientists discovered that treatment, in some cases, with light can be highly beneficial. Basically, that means skin cancer patients can be treated by prolonged exposure to a big lamp. This concept sparked the interest of some engineers that consequently developed a LED-based device that patients can use to provide themselves with a personal form of treatment.

Engineered bacteria to produce fuel and plastics

For those materials that we cannot find or produce from natural resources, we use chemistry. Chemical reactions in the lab cane take place under a variety of circumstances, which helps us create a large number of artificial compounds with properties that we desire. A while back, scientists discovered that bacteria can help us with performing chemical reactions and producing desirable compounds. They now produce various things for us that are complex to make with conventional chemistry, including insulin. Now, researchers from the University of California in Davis have found a way to create fuel and plastics with bacteria.

Scientists device a new computational model of the cell

Our bodies, and those of other animals, consist of many cells that all interact with each other in order to acquire the necessary complexity that makes us who we are. This network of cells is incredibly sophisticated, but there is also a lot going on inside an individual cell. Perhaps the insides of a single cell are even more complex than all of them working together. Cells create proteins to perform various functions, and they do so by reading the information present on the genes on our DNA. In a new attempt to uncover the relationships between genes, their output and their associated hierarchy, scientists from the University of California in San Diego created a computer model that automatically gathers this information.

Using foam to stop internal bleeding

The wages of war have resulted in the deaths of many people. For everybody's sake, it would be better to stop fighting altogether, but this does not seem to be realistic. That is why new technology is developed to keep people alive on the battlefield. A recent example is a piece of nanotechnology from MIT that is capable of stopping external bleeding almost instantly. Now, researchers affiliated with DARPA have developed something that could rapidly arrest internal bleeding, in an attempt to keep wounded soldiers alive and get them to a hospital.

Brain implant to aid patients with Alzheimer's disease

Our brain consists of many wires that all connect to each other and communicate by means of electricity. Small electrical pulses travel along the wires and the patterns result in all kinds of behavioural changes in the brain cells that receive these signals. That means electricity is essential for adequate brain function, and therefore it is something that is being investigated as a potential therapy. Previous studies with a technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) showed that it has the potential to reverse brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease. Now, researchers have developed a brain implant that can be worn by patients for permanent DBS.

Brain cooling reduces epileptic seizures

Epilepsy is something like a temporary overload of the brain. The seizures that accompany the disease are defined as "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain", which basically means that the thing lights up like a Christmas tree. Seizures can have various causes, but in patients with epilepsy, a cause is often hard to establish. A cure is also not available; with medication it is possible to control the symptoms, but so far it remains impossible prevent seizures. A novel attempt by scientists from the Yamaguchi University to treat epileptic seizures is based on something completely different: they found a way to ameliorate the symptoms by cooling down the brain.

MIT builds foldable Transformers robots

Sometimes science fiction turns into reality. That is the case with the recent success in building a cyborg and achieving teleportation. Speaking of science fiction, everybody knows that the robots from Transformers are not real. However, it could very well be that we will be capable of building such robots in the future. The required technology has been delivered by engineers from MIT.

Method devised to build our own proteins

Proteins are the basic building blocks of cells, and they have all sorts of functions. Some of them appear as true building blocks that hold the cell together, but others catalyse chemical reactions in the body, and are known as enzymes. There is an enourmous variety in the functions that proteins can perform, which is basically governed by their shape. Proteins are created from long chains that automatically fold into the right position. This folding process is what interests scientists, because we can use it to make our own proteins. A group of scientists has now devised a set of principles to actually make this happen.

Nano structures aid in studying individual cells

A cell is the most basic form of life there is. Some organisms consist of just a single cell, but us human beings have billions of them. Because we consist of so many individual components, cells need to work closely together. They do so by forming a cooperation of multiple cells that all do the same thing. That is what we call tissue. Communication is very important, and cells normally receive signals from all sides. In the lab, things are a bit different. We use special culture flasks in which the cells attach to the bottom. However, this does not accurately mimic the situation in the body. Scientists from the University of Twente have designed nano structures to grow cells individually, in the shape of a pyramid.

Device prints words directly on a blind person's retina

Blindness is very hard to cure, and it is one of the few things for which there are barely any effective treatments. Being blind is often permanent, but newly developed technologies offer a bit of hope for those who are unable to see. For example, a newly developed eye implant based on laser looks very promising, and the same goes for attempts with gene therapy. Now, scientists from the company Second Sight have developed a device that stimulates the retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue of the eye. This way they succeeded in letting blind people read words and even see colour.

A 3D-printed self-walking robot based on heart cells

It is amazing what engineers can do nowadays. New technology has allowed us to create our own biological systems that can, for example, be used for transplantation or for the creation of biological robots, otherwise known as cyborgs. An interesting recent example is a project where scientists turned an insect into something that we can control. Now, researchers from the University of Illinois have created a biological machine by printing layers of heart cells and a hydrogel polymer using a 3D printer.

Robot fish capable of interacting with live fish

Robots are getting increasingly intelligent, as we advance in our technology. Nowadays, robots are capable of performing complex tasks, and we are already finding ways to attach robot elements to our bodies, creating so-called cyborgs. It is, however, still too difficult to make robots just as intelligent, or complex, as live animals. Scientists from the University of New York have now set the first steps towards a robot model that behaves just like a fish and is capable of real interaction. Such principles ought to help us change the behaviour of groups of animals, in an effort to preserve nature.

Pacemaker can be powered with heart beats

Pacemakers are one of the oldest implantable devices that we use to adjust body functions. Such devices function by generating pulses that instruct the heart to keep beating. This can save the lives of people who are unable to create these pulses themselves, for example as a result of heart damage. A pacemaker makes up for that, but the downside is that it needs batteries in order to be able to generate the necessary electrical pulses. A novel device is supposed to eliminate the need for batteries, saving patients from future surgery.

Man walks with robot leg using only his brain

Our attempts at understanding how the brain works have yielded very interesting results in the last couple of years We have seen paraplegics operate robot limbs using only their brain, and it is even possible to mimic the fine finger movements, allowing for complicated brain-controlled actions. Now, American scientists have come up with something new, as they have found a way to let a person control a bionic leg with his mind. He even proved to be capable to climb one of the highest skyscrapers with the robot leg, using only his brain and his one healthy leg.

Electronic implant able to relieve migraine

A lot of people suffer from migraine attacks, a condition that can be severely debilitating. It is a form of severe headache that periodically returns and it is tied with malfunctions in the nervous system. Although it is likely to be caused by both genetic and environmental factors, the underlying pathological mechanisms are not well understood. This impedes the development of new treatments, but scientists have come up with a way to decrease the severity in certain migraine patients. An electrical implant that sends signals to the brain was shown to decrease the number of migraine attacks, making it a promising way to give such patients a better quality of life.