NEWRON: Vol V, Issue IV

[Natan Davidovics]

NeuroEngineering Weekly Review Of News

Go Deceptacons!

Interesting NeuroEngineering links:

Hopkins Neuroengineering web site: http://neuroengineering.bme.jhu.edu
New job blog: http://neuroengjobs.blogspot.com/
Blog for administrative questions: http://neuroengineering.blogspot.com
NEWRON on the web!: http://neuroengineering.bme.jhu.edu/Home/newron

Enjoy,
Natan Davidovics
NEWRON Publishing Corporation

Brain-Computer Interface Eavesdrops on a Daydream

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/braincomputer-interface-eavesdrops-on-a-daydream/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=102810

New research, which will be reported tomorrow in the journalNature, points to the ability to snoop on people’s visual imagination—although it’s still a long way away from the full-fledged dream-reading technologies popularized in this summer’s blockbuster movie Inception. Scientists from Germany, Israel, Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States have performed experiments in which they were able to monitor individual neurons in a human brain associated with specific visual memories. They then taught people to will one visual memory onto a television monitor to replace another.

Wiring The Brain to Aid People With Paralysis

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304248704575574181134954298.html?mod=asia_home

Scientists are reporting progress in their efforts to channel brain waves to power mechanical devices, a development that could someday help paralyzed people regain mobility. The Duke researchers have previously trained lab monkeys to move a robotic arm in a separate location and play simple video games. Now, the researchers have begun a more complex set of experiments aimed at teaching monkeys to control with their thoughts a full-body avatar projected on a computer screen. Directing the movements of an entire body is much more difficult than controlling just an arm or leg.

Robotic Limbs that Plug into the Brain

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26622/

Most of the robotic arms now in use by some amputees are of limited practicality; they have only two to three degrees of freedom, allowing the user to make a single movement at a time. And they are controlled with conscious effort, meaning the user can do little else while moving the limb. A new generation of much more sophisticated and lifelike prosthetic arms, sponsored by the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), may be available within the next five to 10 years. Two different prototypes that move with the dexterity of a natural limb and can theoretically be controlled just as intuitively--with electrical signals recorded directly from the brain--are now beginning human tests.