A Better Life With Bionics

Check out the latest National Geographic feature on Bionics – complete with a feature article, an interactive section on the bionic body and a photo gallery capturing how bionics are changing lives for the better.

The Next Frontier For Pain Relief

Microtransponder aims to develop a wireless neurostimulation system for the treatment of chronic pain and several other neurological indications. The minimally invasive device will provide relief from chronic pain without requiring an implanted battery or wires. They have received the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and three separate NIH SBIR grants.

From Science Fiction To Science Reality

Did you know:

1. We can erase people's memories.

2. We can regulate people's moods with microchips.

3.  We can use brain implants to steer animals left and right.

4. Infrared brain scans can predict what people want.

5. Human-computer interfaces link human brains directly to computers (we'll we knew about this one already).

Great, bizarre article explaining these accomplishments.

Major Advancements In Brain-Artifical Limb Interfaces

Amanda Kitts lost her left arm in a car accident three years ago, but these days she plays American football with her 12-year-old son, and changes diapers and bear-hugs children at the three Kiddie Cottage day care centers she owns in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Kitts, 40, does this all with a new kind of artificial arm that moves more easily than other devices and that she can control by using only her thoughts.

"I'm able to move my hand, wrist and elbow all at the same time," she said. "You think, and then your muscles move."

Full story

Bionic Woman, Part II

Yoky Matsuoka, a one time tennis prodigy and self-described "airhead," is now a MacArthur fellow and professor of neurobotics (a fusion of neuroscience and robotics) at the University of Washington. Matsuoka leads the charge to create advanced prosthetic limbs controlled by human thought. Learn about her story in this short Nova video and watch a short video on the 400 year old history of the quest to build robotic limbs.