A research team describes the entire network of brain cells that are connected to specific motor neurons controlling whisker muscles in newborn mice. A better understanding of such motor control circuits could help inform how human brains develop, potentially leading to new ways of restoring movement in people who suffer paralysis from brain injuries, or to the development of better prosthetics for limb replacement.
Scientists used an electronic prosthetic system to tap into existing circuitry in the brain at the cellular level and record the firing patterns of multiple neurons in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in decision-making. They then “played” that recording back to the same brain area to electrically stimulate decision-based neural activity. Not only did it restore function, in some cases, it also improved it.
Neuroprosthetics and robot rehabilitation wake up the ‘spinal brain’ and restore voluntary movement. Rats with spinal cord injuries and severe...
New technology bypasses spinal cord and delivers electrical signals from brain directly to muscles. A new Northwestern Medicine brain-machine technology...
New brain-machine interfaces that exploit the plasticity of the brain may allow people to control prosthetic devices in a natural...
Engineers work to design prosthetic arm that allows amputees to feel what they touch. Engineering researchers at four U.S. universities...