Typing sentences by simply thinking is possible with new technology

JUDY WOODRUFF: For decades, researchers have worked to create a better and more direct connection between a human brain and a computer to improve the lives of people who are paralyzed or have severe limb weakness from diseases like ALS. Those advances have been notable, but now the work is yielding groundbreaking results. CAT WISE: Dennis Degray is a 64-year-old quadriplegic who is writing a sentence on the computer screen in front of him using only his brain. A former volunteer firefighter, Degray had a bad fall 10 years ago which severed his spinal cord. As part of an early stage clinical research study led by Stanford University, Degray and two other volunteer participants with ALS had small sensors implanted in their brains in an area called the motor cortex, which controls movement.