FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL
SCIENCE, A MAN HAS BEEN ABLE TO RECAPTURE THE ABILITY OF USING
HIS HANDS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY PARALYZED BECAUSE HE HAD A CHIP
IMPLANTED IN HIS BRAIN.
THIS TECHNIQUE IS NOT THAT NEW
IF WE THINK ABOUT IT.
WE HAVE PROBABLY READ ARTICLES
ABOUT PRIMATES, NONHUMAN PRIMATES, WHO WERE ABLE TO
PLAY VIDEOGAMES WITH THEIR BRAINS.
WE CAN MONITOR
THEIR BRAINWAVE ACTIVITY AND IF THEY THINK ABOUT MOVING A
BALL AND A SCREEN, THEN THEY ACTUALLY DO IT.
THOUGH GET
DELIVERED A JUICE TREE AND YOU CAN TRAIN THEM TO DO THAT.
THAT WAS AN EPISODE ABOUT HOUSE ABOUT THAT.
THERE YOU GO.
WHAT HAPPENED HERE IS AN INDIVIDUAL NAMED IAN
BURKART HAD SUFFERED A SPINAL CORD INJURY AND WHY DO WE THROW
UP THIS FIRST GRAPHICS THE YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE WHAT IT LOOKS
LIKE THAT THE INJURY WAS AROUND THE ENGINE AREA OF HIS NECK AND
THAT IS WHAT THAT CLEAVAGE.
BASICALLY THE NERVES IN HIS ARM
WORKED FINE AND IN HIS HAND AND HIS BRAIN WAS STILL SENDING
SIGNALS, BUT THEY WERE DISCONNECTED SO WHEN HIS BRAIN
WITH THINK LEFT-HAND, HIS HAND WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LEFT.
THIS
IS PRETTY COMMON IN SPINAL CORD INJURIES AND THAT IS WHY YOU
WILL SEE PARTIAL PARALYSIS.
THESE INGENIOUS DOCTORS AT OHIO
STATE ARE THE ONES WHO OPERATED BUT THE SCIENTISTS RAPID TELL
MEMORIAL INSTITUTE WHICH IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION AND CLUB
IS OHIO.
THEY DEVISED A WAY TO INSERT A MICROBE INTO THE CORTEX
OF THE MAN IN OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BRAIN FROM HIS HAND AND
ACTUALLY MAP HIS THOUGHTS WHEN HE IS THINKING LEFT-HAND.
I'M
TRYING TO LIFT HAND.
THEY DEFINED IN THE BRAIN WHAT WAS
BEING ACTIVATED WHEN THEY THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AND THIS WAS
LIKE WEEKS TO MONTHS TWO YEARS OF CALIBRATION.
ONCE THEY WERE
ABLE TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF CLUSTER OF NERVES WERE
BEING ACTIVATED WHEN HE THOUGHT ABOUT LIFTING HIS HAND, THEN
THEY COULD PROGRAM INTO THE COMPUTER SOME INFORMATION THAT
WOULD ñ THERE SHOULD BE A SECOND LIEN TO THE BRACER.
A VERY
SIMPLE GRAPHIC.
SECONDLY COMING OUT OF THE COMPUTER TO BASICALLY
SOMETHING THAT IS WRAPPED AROUND HIS ARM THAT CAN INDUCE
ELECTRICAL PULSES TO HIS NERVES.
NOW WHAT IT IS DOING IS IT IS
JOURNEY JOINING THE CIRCUIT THAT WAS BROKEN BEFORE.
THE CIRCUIT
IS NOT AS OUT OF HIS BODY.
HE THINKS LIFT ARM, NOW THAT IS
MOUNTED TO THE COMPUTER SO THEY KIND OF KNOW WHAT THOSE THOUGHT
PATTERNS REPRESENT, THEN THEY CAN SAY LIFT ARM TO THE
INDIVIDUAL NERVES AND HIS ARM LIFTS DIET TOOK A REALLY LONG
TIME FOR THEM TO DO THIS, BUT THEY CAN GET TO THE POINT WHERE
HE CAN PICK UP A BOTTLE.
THEY CAN GET TO THE POINT WHERE HE
CAN STIR SOMETHING.
HE HAS FINE MOTOR CONTROL AND ACTUALLY CAN
DO A PINCH GRASP.
I THINK WE HAVE SOME VIDEO OF HIM ACTUALLY
USING THAT HAND.
IT'S REALLY IMPRESSIVE.
OR NOT.
WE CAN
TALK ABOUT IT UNTIL THE VIDEO COMES UP.
THERE IT IS.
YOU CAN SEE HERE, THERE IS THE CHIP IN HIS HEAD ALL THE
TIME BUT THEY HAVE TO INSERT THIS SO HE CAN HOOK IT UP TO THE
COMPUTER.
EVENTUALLY THEY HOPE TO HAVE WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY.
HERE THEY ARE MAPPING THE BRAIN ACTIVITY AND THEN HERE THEY ARE
ACTUALLY TRYING TO INDUCE CHANGES INTO HAND.
FOR A WHILE
IN ORDER TO LEARN HE IS AVATAR, BUT THEN THEY KNEW IT WAS REALLY
WORKING WE HE COULD GET PAST THE AVATAR AND JUST THINK ABOUT IT
WITH HIS OWN BRAIN.
LOOK AT THAT THOUGHT HE HADN'T BEEN ABLE
TO USE A HAND IN YEARS.
THIS IDEA OF REMEMBERING HOW TO USE
MUSCLES THAT YOU HAVEN'T ACCESS TO IN YEARS IS JUST FASCINATING.
HE WAS REALLY GUNG HO.
A LOT OF HIS FAMILY MEMBERS
WERENERVOUS FOR HIM TO DO THE SURVEY BECAUSE IT WAS
EXPERIMENTAL AND ELECTIVE.
IT TOOK A LONG TIME.
THERE IS SEVERAL WRIST OPENING OF SOMEONE'S VEIN
BRAIN.
ESPECIALLY WITH RISK OF INFECTION.
FOR ANYONE THAT IS PARALYZED, THE IDEA THAT SOMEDAY THIS
COULD TRANSLATE INTO WALKING OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS
OBVIOUSLY ONE TO BE REALLY INSPIRATIONAL.
I DON'T KNOW
ANYTHING REALLY ABOUT THE BRAIN OR ABOUT THE BODY.
I AM IN
80 WHEN IT COMES TO THAT THAT THAT
YOU ARE A BIOLOGY MAJOR.
KNOW IT WASN'T A POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY WHICH IS ONLY
TANGENTIALLY ABOUT THE BRAIN.
REAL BY KNOW BY A MINOR ? DID YOU STUDY ANY BIOLOGY
IN SCHOOL ?
NO.
WHY DID I THINK YOU DID.
I DID BASIC BIOLOGY IN COLLEGE.
LITTLE BIT.
YOU KNOW LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE BRAIN.
IN TERMS OF THE MINIATURIZATION OF COMPUTER
TECHNOLOGY, WE HAVE 10 µM SMALLER TRANSISTORS AND ALL OF
THAT RUNNING EXTREMELY COMPLEX CALCULATIONS AT 4+ GIGAHERTZ LET
ALONE ACTUAL SERVER TECHNOLOGY, SO WHEN YOU CRACK THE SPINAL
CORN AND YOU HAVE THE NERVES AND WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE
TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION THROUGH ELECTRICITY, WHY
ARE THEY NOT ABLE TO TAKE IN THAT INFORMATION INTO SOME
SORT OF CHIP OR WHATEVER AND THEN TRANSMITTED THAT
THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE DOING THAT
I KNOW BUT WHAT I'M SAYING IS THEY ARE FEEDING INTO A
COMPUTER THAT IS TRANSLATING THE INFORMATION.
I'M SAYING
LITERALLY REPLACING THE BROKEN PORTION OF THE SIGN WITH A
MECHANICAL ALTERNATIVE.
THAT IS WHERE THINGS GET REALLY DIFFICULT.
TRUST ME THEY
ARE WORKING ON IT.
THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS WITH THE
BODY WHEN YOU ABLATE A CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM NEURON.
THE
SPINAL CORD IS A CLUSTER.
IF YOU WHAT NEURONS LOOK LIKE FROM
SCHOOL YOU HAVE THE CELL BODY AND YOU HAVE THE LONG AXON AND
THEN YOU HAD ALL THE LITTLE TREND EYES ON A MULTIPOLAR CELL
SO THAT AXON, THAT LONG THING, IS A BUNDLE OF THOSE THAT MAKE
UP THE SPINAL CORD.
YOU'VE CELLS IN YOUR BRAIN, LONG AXONS
CONNECTING THEM TO CELLS THAT ARE IN THE HANDS, LEGS, FEE,
WHATEVER.
VICE VERSA FOR FEEDBACK.
WHEN YOU ACTUALLY
ABLATE A CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM AXON, YOU HAVE THE SCARRING
PHENOMENON THAT OCCURS.
WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO MAKE IT SO
THAT THEY FUSE BACK TOGETHER.
IT IS VERY HARD FOR US TO
CONVINCE THE BODY TO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THAT COMMUNICATION
PATH.
I WAS READING ABOUT ONE EXPERIMENT THEY
SUCCESSFULLY WERE ABLE TO MELD A CHIP INTO BRAIN CELLS AND IT
WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.
I DON'T THINK IT EVEN LASTED THAT LONG.
DID YOU GUYS READ ABOUT THE PIG WHO HAD THE BABOON HEART?
THIS IS A STUDY THAT BLEW UP IN THE SCIENCE WORLD THIS WEEK
WHERE THEY WERE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY HAVE A BABOON HEART
THAT WAS GENETICALLY MODIFIED TO WORK INSIDE OF A PIG.
THE PIG
STAYED ALIVE FOR LONGER THAN WE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT, AND WE
HAVE HAD ANIMAL HEARTS PUT INTO HUMANS BEFORE, BUT EVENTUALLY,
YOU DO DIE.
IS A REAL DIFFICULTY.
WE ACTUALLY THINK
THAT GENETICALLY MODIFYING ORGANS FROM OTHER ANIMALS IS A
MORE REALISTIC FIX FOR CERTAIN PARTS OF THE BODY THEN
CYBERNETIC FIXES BECAUSE DO YOU KNOW ANYONE HIS HAVE A PACEMAKER
?OR AN ARTIFICIAL VALVE INSERTED ?THEY BREAK.
THINGS BREAK.
YOU HAVE TO OPEN THE BODY BACKUP.
YOU HAVE TO
FIX IT AND UPDATED THAT THAT'S REALLY INVASIVE ESPECIALLY IF
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE BRAIN.
I DID RECENTLY A REALLY GREAT
THING FOR NACCHIO CALLED BRAIN SURGERY LIVE WHERE DOCTORS DID
SOMETHING QUITE SIMILAR BUT THIS IS FOR PARKINSON'S PATIENTS AND
IT'S AN ELECTIVE PROCEDURE THAT IS ENACTED ALL THE TIME WERE
DOCTORS WILL GO INTO A PARKINSON'S PATIENTS BRAIN AND
MAP OUT EXACTLY WHERE THEIR SOURCE OF MAIN RIGIDITY IS
OCCURRING AND THEN THEY WILL INSERT ELECTRODES SO THAT YOU
CAN STIMULATE THAT PART OF THE BRAIN AND IT ACTUALLY CALMS THAT
RIGIDITY THAT IT REQUIRES THAT THEY TAKE LESS MEDS SO THEY GET
LESS WIGGLES WHICH IS HUGE FOR QUALITY OF LIFE.
THAT SAID, THE
DISEASE STILL PROGRESSIVE IT JUST HELPS WITH QUALITY OF LIFE.
WE DO HAVE SOME FIXES THAT ARE SIMILAR BUT THIS IS THE FIRST
TIME EVER THAT THIS IDEA OF A BRAIN CONTROL FROM OUTSIDE
OF THE BODY, USING YOUR OWN THOUGHTS, THAT CIRCUIT HAS
BEEN ABLE TO BE BRIDGED.