An external electrical circuit connecting the brain directly to a muscle allowed paralyzed monkeys to move their arms, an advance that could lead to neuroprosthetics for humans with spinal cord injuries.
Brain-machine interfaces have previously been used to control robotic arms and computer cursors, but they required researchers to identify entire populations of neurons already associated with movement. By contrast, researchers recently identified neurons not previously associated with motion, then used them to stimulate individual muscles rather than a robotic device.
[ more ] [ nature ]
