Longevity science

It took some time, but the age of the cyborg is upon us. For the first time, neuromuscular electrodes that enable a prosthetic arm and hand to be controlled by thought have been permanently implanted into the nerves and muscles of an amputee. The operation was carried out recently by a surgical team led by Dr Rickard Brånemark at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden.

The “bebonic3” is the latest version of bebonic series of artificial hands produced by RSLSteeper of Leeds, U.K.

Artificial hands have come a long way in recent years, but it turns out the human hand is amazingly complex. With about 29 bones, 34 muscles, 48 nerves and 123 ligaments to operate it, the hand is a piece of engineering that is still streets ahead of current technology.

Researchers have created a self-supporting scaffolding of nanowires and coated it with a biocompatible material. They grew heart and nerve cells within this scaffold, which developed into a single structure with embedded nanowires.

With this technology, researchers can work at the cellular scale much more effectively, without damaging the cells and with the capability to observe cells from anywhere within the tissue.

Earlier this year, a 58 year-old woman who had lost the use of her limbs was successfully able to drink a cup of coffee by herself using a robotic arm controlled by her thoughts via a brain computer interface (BCI). Now, in a separate study, another woman with longstanding quadriplegia has been able to feed herself a chocolate bar using a mind-controlled, human-like robot arm offering what researchers claim is a level of agility and control approaching that of a human limb

Australian researchers implanted a new version of a bionic eye into a blind woman. The subject had experienced years of darkness due to retinitis pigmentosa, but when the implant was activated, she could see light and shapes.

The implant behind the retina sends electrical impulses along the optic nervers and into the brain, which processes these signals despite the fact that they are not actually originiating from the retina.