Atlanta - A paralysed Georgia man who received a tiny brain implant has become the first human to control a computer using only his thoughts.
Known only by his initials, JR, the 53-year-old man was the second person to receive the implant, about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, but only the first to successfully communicate with a computer using his thoughts, says Dr Roy Bakay, who developed the implant with Dr Phillip Kennedy.
The implants consist of two tiny hollow glass cones coated with neurotropic chemicals extracted from the recipients' peripheral nerves. The chemicals encourage nerves to grow into the cones, penetrating the glass, Dr Bakay, of Emory University, said. "This puts the cells inside the cone so it keeps the cells going for a very long time. It is critical to train these cells in a stable environment," he said. "The nerve tissue grows into the cone and forms contacts or synapses. It's those signals that we pick up."