implants – Techdirt (original) (raw)

DailyDirt: Combining Biology And Machines…

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Nature has had a few billion years to evolve some pretty useful abilities, but people are always trying to improve upon what’s already available. One of the big challenges is creating an interface between biological mechanisms and various electronic devices. Implanting electrodes into brains or having insects control robot bodies are ongoing experiments — and there are a few other projects combining biology and machines that could be even more cutting edge.

• Cyborg roses have been grown with electrically-conducting wires in the flower’s xylem — its vascular system that usually transports water throughout the plant. This could be an important first step towards making plants that can be controlled or used as sensors. Or it could start some kind of cross between The Happening and Terminator. [url]
• Phil Kennedy has developed brain-computer interfaces since the 1980s, but he took his research to an extreme by getting his own brain implant. It was getting difficult to find healthy people to volunteer for a brain surgery to implant electrodes, so Kennedy paid a surgeon to do it to himself. Complications forced him to remove the implants after about a month, but he gathered some data during his time as a cyborg that might help further brain research in speech decoding. Still, it’s not exactly the best way to conduct brain research when there are concerns about safety and reproducibility. [url]
• Ray Kurzweil predicts a lot of far out stuff, and he thinks nanobots will connect our brains directly to external computers — allowing us to access information and ideas at a faster and broader scale than ever before. Kurzweil says our abilities will become “godlike” — but it depends on which gods we become like, really. (e.g., tormented gods or jealous ones or…) [url]

After you’ve finished checking out those links, check out this holiday gift guide for some awesome deals at the Techdirt deals store.

Filed Under: brain computer interface, brain research, cyborg, hmi, implants, nanobots, phil kennedy, plants, ray kurzweil

DailyDirt: The Fight Against Cancer Continues…

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There have been some pretty wild treatments for cancer, from modifying HIV and creating a gene therapy approach… to using genetically-engineered bacteria or radiation to attack cancer cells. Over the years, there have been quite a few promising studies that haven’t amounted to practical treatments. There will probably never be a silver bullet, but until medicine figures out how to beat a lot more cancers, there’s always more research to be done.

• Reprogramming cancer cells can make them normal cells again, providing a potential cancer treatment. The discovery of how to turn off the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells will need more time to develop into a practical cancer therapy, but this is encouraging work towards a fundamental understanding and possible cure. [url]
• Aspirin (aka “wonder drug”) seems to keep finding more uses. It’s not just a headache medicine or a drug that can prevent the risk of heart attacks, but it might also help boost the effectiveness of some cancer treatments. [url]
• An implantable “cancer sponge” could soak up rogue cancer cells before they spread to other organs and give doctors a better early warning detection system. The implant is made from an FDA-approved material already used in surgical sutures, and it seems to work in mice studies. Obviously, it’ll take a while before human studies are complete, but this could be a much more convenient and less risky way to detect cancer in its earliest stages. [url]

After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: aspirin, cancer, gene therapy, gmo, health, implants, medicine, treatment

DailyDirt: Connecting Brains To Other Stuff

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If artificial intelligence doesn’t seem to be making as much progress as we’d like, there are some other ways to try to create more intelligent beings on demand. If we can’t breed smarter animals, perhaps we can make some animal cyborgs to do our bidding. We’ll need some better brain interfaces, and it looks like plenty of folks are already working on them.

• Neurobiologists have figured out how to connect multiple brains together by implanting microwire electrode arrays in animals — and proving two heads are actually better than one. Researchers accomplished this feat with rat and monkey brains (not mixing the species, mind you, that would be crazy…), and they found multiple brains could perform tasks that single brains could not. These ‘brainets’ could someday be used on human brains… so imagine a Beowulf cluster of human brains? [url]
• A low-cost headset called the Brainwriter can control digital interfaces with thought-detection and eye tracking sensors. It’s not exactly a finished product yet, but… similar gadgets could become much more useful in the near future. [url]
• Brain implants might be far less invasive with injectable electrode meshes that can unfurl onto various kinds of nerve or brain cells. Injecting flexible electronics into mice brains via a syringe has been a demonstrated way to monitor brain activity, and researchers might be able to create a brain interface — so we could create a super-intelligent rat brain network to take over the world. [url]

After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: ai, animal intelligence, animals, brainet, brains, brainwriter, cyborg, hmi, implants, intelligence, lab rats, smart animals

DailyDirt: Cyborgs All Around Us

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Technology is becoming ever more essential in our daily lives, but as long as the devices we use are still separate things outside of our bodies, we haven’t yet fully adapted to technology. However, as technology gets a bit more advanced, it won’t seem too strange to start implanting technology in ourselves. If you wear contact lenses, maybe you think you’re a pioneer. But there are far more extreme examples, and some folks are really taking it to the next level.

• Artificial hearts have been under development for decades, but one that adjusts blood flow based on physical activity allows a 75yo Frenchman to perform everyday tasks normally — without becoming breathless or exhausted easily. The Carmat artificial heart is powered by a lithium-ion battery and contains membranes from a cow heart to improve biocompatibility. The technology has come quite a ways from the Jarvik-7 that was implanted in Barney Clark in 1982. [url]
• Transhumanists are exploring the world of do-it-yourself cyborg technologies. Some well-known cyborgs like Kevin Warwick and Steve Mann are just the tip of the iceberg of people who are willing to implant various objects/devices in their bodies. [url]
• The Cybathlon, the first international olympics specifically for athletes with prosthetics, will be held in Switzerland in 2016. There will only be six events, and unlike the traditional olympics, competitors will be encouraged to achieve superhuman abilities (if possible) with technology. [url]

If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: artificial heart, bionic, carmat, cybathlon, cyborgs, hmi, implants, jarvik-7, kevin warwick, prosthetics, steve mann, transhumanism

Captain Cyborg Has A Virus-Infected Sidekick… But Nothing Can Stop A PR Campaign

from the virus-infected? dept

About a decade ago, if you followed the technology space, you might recall a series of articles about a professor at the University of Reading, named Kevin Warwick, who made himself famous by implanting a computer chip in his arm, declaring himself an expert in “cybernetics” and figuring out ways to get way too much press for nothing special. The Register, amusingly, dubbed him “Captain Cyborg” and regularly mocked his various exploits. We haven’t heard much about Warwick in a while, but when I saw a bunch of folks chatting about a BBC article concerning the “first human infected with computer virus,” I was immediately reminded of Warwick. Reading through the article, it was no surprise to find out that this “experiment” is actually being conducted by a colleague of Warwick’s, Mark Gasson — who according to Warwick’s own bio lead the research group that Warwick works in.

The story is — as with all captain cyborg stories — a lot less than the headline suggests. Gasson wasn’t “infected with a computer virus.” He took a chip that had a computer virus and stuck it in his arm, just like Warwick has done n the past. The parallels to an actual virus are minimal, and the usefulness for anything is even less than that. Gasson presents this as useful for considering the implications for implanted technology such as pacemakers, but that’s nothing new. People have talked about potential technology issues from the wireless interface to pacemakers for years. Doing some sort of publicity stunt with an implanted computer chip doesn’t further that discussion along.

Filed Under: cyborgs, hype, implants, kevin warwick, mark gasson, pr stunts, viruses