Brain implants allow fully paralysed man to communicate

A fully paralysed man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can now communicate with his family after receiving microchip implants in his brain. It is the first time a completely locked-in person – someone who is conscious and cognitively able but fully paralysed – was able to communicate in full sentences, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications this week. "People have really doubted whether this was even feasible," Mariska Vansteensel, a researcher at the University Medical Center Utrecht who was not involved in the study, told Science.org. The unidentified German man, 36, was diagnosed with ALS, a rare progressive nervous system disease that leads to the loss of muscle control, in 2015. When an ALS patient can no longer speak, they can use an eye-tracking device to select letters on a screen. Later in the disease's progression, they can answer yes or no questions with subtle eye movements.