Message no. 1

From:	"Jason I. Gonding" <templar@****.NET>
Subject:	[Fwd: "Brain implant allows paralyzed man to control computer"]
Date:	Tue, 20 Oct 1998 21:30:10 -0400

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Hi all,
thought this might be interesting. Got this off the Delta Green ML.

I hope this doesn't constitute an attachment, but since it's about a
"proto-decker" I figure it's on topic enough to get by.

Jason


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From: Shane Ivey <sivey@*****.com>
To: "'deltagreen@********.org'" <deltagreen@********.org>
Subject: DG: "Brain implant allows paralyzed man to control computer"
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:35:51 -0500
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! ! !

This one was wild enough for me to post the whole baby right here.
Apparently they've been doing it for years, but "Wow!"

--Shane

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Brain implant allows paralyzed man to control computer
3.22 p.m. ET (1923 GMT) October 20, 1998

By Lori Wiechman, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - A Star Trek-type implant that enables direct communication
between the brain and a computer is allowing a paralyzed, mute stroke victim
to use his brainpower to move a cursor across a screen and convey simple
messages such as hello and goodbye.

Researchers believe the tiny implant the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen
is the first device that allows direct communication between the brain and a
computer.

"Of all things people lose, the ability to communicate is the most
frightening thing - to know what you want to say and not to be able to say
it,'' said Dr. Warren Selman, a neurosurgeon at University Hospitals of
Cleveland not involved in the research. "This is the first step to unlocking
that.''

Doctors implanted a device into the 53-year-old man's brain that amplifies
his brain signals. Those signals are then transmitted to a laptop computer
through an antenna-like coil placed on his head.

Like a computer mouse, the brain signals can move a cursor across the
computer screen and point at icons with messages such as "See you later.
Nice talking with you.'' The man can also use the cursor to tell others that
he is hungry or thirsty.

"It's like we're making the mouse the patient's brain,'' said Dr. Roy Bakay,
one of two Emory University doctors who developed the technology.

Eventually, researchers hope to use the technology to teach patients to
write letters, send e-mail and turn lights off and on via computer.

"It opens up a very exciting new chapter in rehabilitation for such
patients,'' said Dr. William Friedman, program director and associate
chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Florida.

The patient, identified only as J.R., suffered a brain stem stroke and is
dependent on a ventilator at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
His brain functions normally, but its signals do not reach their intended
destination.

Six months ago, Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a tiny glass cone
into the man's brain. A substance that encourages nerves to grow prompted
the brain's nerves to link up to electrodes in the cone, forming what Bakay
calls "a little brain'' inside the cone.

The electrodes can transmit electrical impulses produced by the brain to a
computer.

To train J.R.'s brain, researchers told him to think about grabbing a glass.
The cone is implanted in an area of the brain that can produce signals
designed to cause movement.

Bakay and Kennedy have been testing the technology on animals for 12 years.
Kennedy has patented the technology.

The first human patient, a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, was
able to control computer signals for 76 days before she died. J.R. is their
second patient. The National Institutes of Health have awarded funding to
continue research on at least one more patient.

For more than a decade, some paralyzed people have communicated with a
computer program that translates their coded blinking into letters on a
screen. J.R. can blink, but "I think he enjoys doing this,'' Bakay said.

Selman expressed caution about using the technology on anybody except
patients with long-term paralysis. "You'd hate to put something in somebody
in an area they're going to recover,'' he said.


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