Computers Obeying Brain Signals From: Associated Press - 04/03/2005 By: Malcolm Ritter Technologies designed to improve the quality of life for paralytics and other mobility-challenged people by enabling them to communicate and operate devices using brain-wave signals are under development around the world. The last few years have seen many promising brain-machine interface technologies come to the fore, thanks to combined advances in neuroscience, computer software, and electronics. Dr. Jonathan Wolpaw of the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health's Brain-Computer Interface lab has developed a wearable nylon mesh equipped with electrodes that monitor neural activity near the brain's surface and measure the brain's "beta rhythm" to direct the movements of an onscreen cursor; the beta rhythm originates from the section of the brain that receives movement-related information, and the patient learns to adjust this rhythm in order to control the cursor. Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems chief science officer John Donoghue thinks implantable brain-computer interfaces such as his BrainGate are more effective tools because they allow patients to operate devices simply by imagining their limbs moving. Scientists say implantable systems can facilitate much more sophisticated control and natural movement of artificial or even human limbs than Wolpaw's scalp recorder, though Wolpaw thinks that scalp electrodes could translate thought into movement just as effectively when combined with software. Duke University scientist Miguel Nicolelis envisions lightweight "wearable robots" that enable paralytics to walk and reach for objects, while Dr. Philip Kennedy of Neural Signals believes electrodes implanted in the brain' speech centers would make "locked-in" patients able to communicate via a synthesizer. Read the entire article at: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=638149 Links: Jonathan R. Wolpaw, MD http://www.wadsworth.org/new/j_wolpaw.htm Paralyzed use brain waves to move http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2004-12-06-paralyzed-brain-waves_x.htm?csp=36 Cyberkinetics http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/content/index.jsp Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, MD, PhD http://neuro.duke.edu/Faculty/Nicolelis.htm Neurobiologist uses brain to restore mobility http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/09/30/3f797251720bf Neural Signals http://www.neuralsignals.com/