Paralysed man can feel objects through another person's hand Keith Thomas, a man in his 40s with no sensation or movement in his hands, is able to feel and move objects by controlling another person's hand via a brain implant. The technique might one day even allow us to experience another person's body over long distances. Keith Thomas (right) was able to control another person's hand A man with paralysis has been able to move and sense another person's hand as if it were his own, thanks to a new kind of "telepathic" brain implant. "We created a mind-body connection between two different individuals," says Chad Bouton at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York state. The approach could be used as a form of rehabilitation after spinal cord injury, allowing people with paralysis to work together, and may one day even allow people to share experiences remotely, says Bouton.

A New York man who was left paralyzed after a diving accident is starting to regain movement a year after receiving an artificial intelligence-powered implant in his brain. A year ago, Keith Thomas, 46, was only able to move his arms an inch. Today, after the groundbreaking procedure, he is able to extend his arm, grasp a cup and take a drink using only his thoughts and stimulation. He has also regained more sensation in his wrist and arm, allowing him to feel the fur of his family's dog. In 2020, Thomas was living on Long Island and working as a trader on Wall Street when he experienced a diving accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research has spun out a startup whose artificial-intelligence device could help paralyzed patients regain the use of their hands. Earlier this month, the startup, Neuvotion Inc., announced a $1.1 million funding round from the Long Island Angel Network and the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Darien, Connecticut, startup is in the process of transferring research developed in the laboratory of Chad Bouton, vice president of advanced engineering at the Feinstein Institutes, a unit of Northwell Health. Bouton also is founder of Neuvotion. The company's initial device, NeuStim, is worn as a patch on the patient's forearm and is being positioned for use in clinics and at home.

Christopher Bouton, PhD, a self-described molecular neurobiologist turned entrepreneur, had such a positive experience starting and running a company that he decided to do it twice. After a five-year stint at pharmaceutical/biotech giant, Pfizer, the Johns Hopkins grad started a company called Entagen, which developed semantic-based analytics for the healthcare sector. After five years running Entagen, Thomson Reuters acquired the company in what Bouton called a "successful exit." Bouton spent a few years under the Thomson Reuters umbrella, but the entrepreneurial itch soon returned. "[In] 2016 while I was sort of contemplating what to do next, I started to take note of all of these deep learning approaches that were starting to be talked about. The reason that they're talking about AI is because of these deep learning algorithms. And so I got interested in what they were and how they worked."

Elon Musk wants to fix disability, replace language as we know it, and use brain implants to usher us into a telepathic world. And he wants the first part of this to be done in the next four years. All of this could theoretically work, experts say. But probably not on the timeline that Musk has set. Yesterday, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO gave more details about NeuraLink Corp, his venture to merge the brain with artificial intelligence, in a Wait But Why explainer.

For more than a decade, neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine has been flying every few months from his lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to another lab in Beijing, China, where he conducts research on monkeys with the aim of treating spinal-cord injuries. The commute is exhausting -- on occasion he has even flown to Beijing, done experiments, and returned the same night. But it is worth it, says Courtine, because working with monkeys in China is less burdened by regulation than it is in Europe and the United States. And this week, he and his team report the results of experiments in Beijing, in which a wireless brain implant -- that stimulates electrodes in the leg by recreating signals recorded from the brain -- has enabled monkeys with spinal-cord injuries to walk. "They have demonstrated that the animals can regain not only coordinated but also weight-bearing function, which is important for locomotion. This is great work," says Gaurav Sharma, a neuroscientist who has worked on restoring arm movement in paralysed patients, at the non-profit research organization Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

COULD hacking our reflexes allow paralysed people to walk again? Some animals have walking reflexes governed by nerves in their spine – it's why a chicken continues to run after its head has been cut off. Now these reflexes have let paralysed monkeys regain use of their legs after a week or two of practice. Previous methods have taken months. We have no reliable means to reconnect severed nerves in people with injured spinal cords. One way to overcome paralysis might be to detect a person's desire to move and use this to stimulate nerves or muscles.

When Ian Burkhart was 19 years old, he was in an accident that damaged his spinal cord. He was paralysed from the chest down, losing all feeling in his hands and feet. Now a team of scientists and doctors in the USA have been able to restore some control in Burkhart's right hand through the use of innovative technology. For five years Burkhart – who broke his neck when he dove under a wave at a beach in North Carolina – has been unable to do mundane tasks like stir a straw. The procedure has enabled Burkhart, now 24, to use his hand and fingers, but it has not eliminated the paralysis.

WASHINGTON – An Ohio man paralyzed in an accident while diving in waves can now pick up a bottle or play the video game Guitar Hero thanks to a small computer chip in his brain that lets his mind guide his hands and fingers, bypassing his damaged spinal cord. Scientists on Wednesday described accomplishments achieved by 24-year-old quadriplegic Ian Burkhart using an implanted chip that relays signals from his brain through 130 electrodes on his forearm to produce muscle movement in his hands and fingers. Burkhart first demonstrated the "neural bypass" technology in 2014 when he was able simply to open and close his hand. But the scientists, in research published in the journal Nature, said he can now perform multiple useful tasks with more sophisticated hand and finger movements. The technology, which for now can only be used in the laboratory, is being perfected with an eye toward a wireless system without the need for a cable running from the head to relay brain signals.

Ian Burkhart prepares for a training session in Columbus, Ohio. To move muscles in Burkhart's hand, the system relies on electrodes implanted in his brain, a computer interface attached to his skull, and electrical stimulators wrapped around his forearm. Ian Burkhart prepares for a training session in Columbus, Ohio. To move muscles in Burkhart's hand, the system relies on electrodes implanted in his brain, a computer interface attached to his skull, and electrical stimulators wrapped around his forearm. Ian Burkhart, now 24, was paralyzed in 2010 after diving into a wave in shallow water.