Just another Reality-based bubble in the foam of the multiverse.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Feeling Chipper Today?

You obviously need an upgrade.

Bill Gates will love this one:

Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) have developed chips which someday might be inserted in the brains of people affected by epilepsy or who have lost a limb. These neuroprosthetic chips ‘can interpret signals in the brain and stimulate neurons to perform correctly.’ ... the researchers are currently studying these chips with rats and hope to have a prototype ready within 4 years that could be tested on humans.

...“The chip UF researchers are seeking to develop would be implanted directly into the brain tissue, where it could gather data from signals, decode them and stimulate the brain in a self-contained package without wires. In the interim, UF researchers are studying implantable devices in rats and are evaluating an intermediate form of the technology — placing electrodes on the surface of the brain — in people.”

The researchers add that they “have developed new techniques using surface electrodes to access signals almost as precisely as they could with sensors implanted in the brain. Developing these techniques is a big step forward in understanding how to best decode a patient’s intent from their brain waves and should have broad implications for delivering therapy, Sanchez said...


Certainly a laudable goal if there weren't so many extremely powerful people who would like to be able to control your software with implanted hardware.

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