‘Bionic spine’ could enable paralysed patients to walk

[CureOrBust]

A long way off into the future (but in human trials next year), but it was all over the news today and is an interesting story in itself.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... us-thought

‘Bionic spine’ could enable paralysed patients to walk using subconscious thought

Australian developers say mind-controlled device, which will be tested in humans next year, is the ‘holy grail’ for bionics researchers

Australian scientists hope that a tiny device just 3cm long and a few millimetres wide will enable paralysed patients to walk again by allowing them to control bionic limbs with the power of subconscious thought.

The new device, dubbed the “bionic spine”, is the size of a small paperclip and will be implanted in three patients at the Royal Melbourne hospital in Victoria next year. The participants will be selected from the Austin Health spinal cord unit, and will be the first humans to trial the device, which so far has only been tested in sheep.
...clip...

[Brainteaser]

One interesting point of this project, as reported in another article is that the inserted item is made up as a stent to be fed up the jugular vein and secured in the vein near the brain, so it seems, and we know here of some of the problems of stents in veins.