A French man paralysed in a nightclub accident has walked again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton, providing hope to tetraplegics seeking to regain movement. The patient trained for months, harnessing his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements before using the robot device to walk. Scientists described the trial results as a breakthrough. Doctors who conducted the trial said though the device was years away from being publicly available, it had the potential to improve patients' quality of life and autonomy. The patient, identified only as Thibault, 28, from Lyon, said the technology had given him a new lease of life.

A paralysed man has been able to walk again using an exoskeleton suit he controls with his mind. Although it doesn't yet let him walk independently – the suit is suspended from an overhead harness to stop him from falling – the advance represents the first steps down the road to this goal. "This is really groundbreaking," says Ravi Vaidyanathan of Imperial College London, who wasn't involved in the work. The implanted brain sensors also let the man, who broke his neck in a fall four years ago, move the arms and hands of the exoskeleton. Several groups are working on ways to let people with spinal cord injuries regain control over their bodies by reading their thoughts.

What the real monkey thinks, the virtual monkey does.