brain implant

Food for Thought

The most sophisticated brain implant yet brings us one giant step closer to mind-controlled machines

The power of thought just got a lot more powerful. Scientists have created a cranial implant that allows monkeys to control a robotic arm just by thinking about it. Using brain signals, the monkeys persuaded the arm to pick up and feed them chunks of zucchini, cucumbers and apples.

Last winter, neuroscientist Andrew Schwartz and his team at the University of Pittsburgh trained monkeys to think about reaching for food (the animals' arms had been temporarily restrained). Using almost 200 electrodes

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November 2009: Astronaut 3.0

Inside NASA's astronaut bootcamp and the grueling new training regimen for deep space. Plus, ten young geniuses shaking up science today, one writer's quest to analyze every man-made chemical in her body and more.

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