News

 

March 12th, 2019 New brain stimulation therapy is effective against depression A new clinical trial has tested the ability of a little-studied, noninvasive brain stimulation technique to treat the symptoms of major depression. The results, so far, have been more than promising.

March 12th, 2019 Neurofeedback Gets You Back in the Zone Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science researchers have shown — for the first time — that they can use online neurofeedback to modify an individual’s arousal state to improve performance in a demanding sensory motor task, such as flying a plane or driving in suboptimal conditions.

February 19th, 2019 Researchers measure readiness potential outside a laboratory for the first time Immediately before a person decides to launch themselves off a bridge for a bungee jump, there is a measurable increase in their brain activity. This can be recorded nearly one second before the person makes the conscious decision to jump. Researchers have, for the first time, succeeded in measuring this ‘Bereitschaftspotential’ (readiness potential) outside a laboratory and under extreme conditions.

January 17th, 2019 Mapping the brain at high resolution Researchers have developed a new way to image the brain with unprecedented resolution and speed. Using this approach, they can locate individual neurons, trace connections between them, and visualize organelles inside neurons, over large volumes of brain tissue.

January 10th, 2019 Scientists harness machine learning to uncover new insights into the human brain An interdisciplinary research team led by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully employed machine learning to uncover new insights into the cellular architecture of the human brain. The team demonstrated an approach that automatically estimates parameters of the brain using data collected from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), enabling neuroscientists to infer the cellular properties of different brain regions without probing the brain using surgical means.

December 4th, 2018 Neurotechnology provides real-time readouts of where rats think they are An international team of scientists demonstrates a new neurotechnology for reading out neural signals of position in real-time as rats run a maze, or replay it during sleep, with a high degree of accuracy, with more than 1,000 input channels, and the ability to account for the statistical relevance of the readings almost instantly after they are made.

November 26th, 2018 Brain-computer interface allows paralyzed patients to use off-the-shelf tablet Three patients with quadriplegia used a brain-computer interface (BCI) to control a tablet device just by thinking about moving and clicking a cursor

October 31st, 2018 Breakthrough neurotechnology for treating paralysis New rehabilitation protocols lead to restored neurological function in paraplegics

January 4th, 2018 How brains and machines can be made to work together Brain-computer interfaces sound like the stuff of science fiction. Andrew Palmer sorts the reality from the hype

August 21th, 2017 NeuroLife Reaches New Milestone The newest achievement of NeuroLife takes science a step closer to realistically fixing paralysis. A collaborative team of scientists and doctors from Battelle and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have published a peer-reviewed scientific paper this week in Scientific Reports, a Nature publication where they describe experiments that show a quadriplegic study participant smoothly controlling movement through a continuum of states and generating precise levels of force using a brain-computer interface.

May 10th, 2017 Facebook’s next frontier: Brain-computer interfaces Facebook’s tech development team are currently working on a way for users to type with their minds, without the need for an invasive implant. Updating your status with thoughts alone may one day become a reality.  “The social media company’s 60-strong team hopes to achieve this miraculous feat using optical imaging that scans the brain hundreds of times per second, detecting our silent internal dialogues and translating them into text on a screen.” (Tim Newmann, Medical News Today)

April 22nd, 2017 With Neuralink, Elon Musk Promises Human-to-Human Telepathy. Don’t Believe It. Elon Musks new company “Neuralink” is subject of a controversial debate about feasibility. In this piece, Antonio Regalado argues that the goal of human-to-human telepathy using a brain-machine interface is too far fetched.    “Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, by way of blogger and cartoonist Tim Urban, has revealed in a 36,400-word illustrated explainer the thinking behind his new company Neuralink and its mission to use brain implants to directly link human minds to computers. The post argues that we should augment the slow, imprecise communication of our voices with a direct brain-to-computer linkup. This would permit both telepathy between people and advantageous relations with artificial intelligence, says Musk. Musk even gives a time line. He says that within eight to 10 years healthy people could be getting brain implants as new computer interfaces. And I say it’s not going to happen.” (Antonio Regalado,  senior editor for biomedicine for MIT Technology Review)

December 15th, 2016 EEG-controlled reach and grasp of a robotic arm  Robotic arm control to reach and grasp objects in a complex 3D environment using non-invasive EEG recordings  (Jeremy Olsen, Star Tribune) Bionic arms controlled wirelessly by people’s thoughts are coming closer to reality as the result of research at the University of Minnesota that seeks to eliminate the need for risky surgical brain implants in order to work. Researcher Bin He and colleagues reported on Wednesday the successful use of sensors in a cap worn on the head that interprets brain signals and instructs a robotic arm to make corresponding movements.

December 8th, 2016 Controlling a Hand Exoskeleton With Your Mind Hybrid EEG/EOG-based brain/neural hand exoskeleton restores fully independent daily living activities after quadriplegia (AP) Researchers have developed a hand exoskeleton that can be controlled solely by thoughts and eye movements, according to a report published yesterday in the inaugural issue of Science Robotics. Six quadriplegic individuals tested the device in everyday situations; they successfully picked up coffee cups, ate donuts, squeezed sponges, and signed documents, the researchers reported. Soekadar SR et al. Hybrid EEG/EOG-based brain/neural hand exoskeleton restores fully independent daily living activities after quadriplegia. Science Robotics 1, eaag3296 (2016).

October 17th, 2016 Database of natural movements to feed machine-learning algorithms for prostheses Restoring natural motions of artificial limbs using machine learning algorithms Most amputees use purely aesthetic prostheses. They find it difficult to accept a robotic limb that is not only by and large complicated to use but also has somewhat unnatural motion. Scientists are therefore striving to bring prosthetic movements closer to those of the human body by using machine learning, a technique also used in artificial intelligence. Thanks to algorithms, prostheses are learning to carry out the right movements on the basis of observing natural ones.

September 12, 2016 Brain-sensing technology allows typing at 12 words per minute Monkey types on a computer with brain implant  It does not take an infinite number of monkeys to type a passage of Shakespeare. Instead, it takes a single monkey equipped with brain-sensing technology — and a cheat sheet. Technology for reading signals directly from the brain could provide a way for people with movement disabilities to communicate.

August 11, 2016 Paralysis partly reversed using brain-machine interface training Restoration of leg movements and sensations after clinically complete spinal cord injury following repeated use of a brain-machine interface controlled exoskeleton Paraplegic patients recovered partial control and feeling in their limbs after training to use a variety of brain-machine interface technologies, according to new research published on Thursday in the journal “Scientific Reports.”

April 13, 2016 Nature: Restoring cortical control of functional movement in a human with quadriplegia Quadriplegic man is first to regain use of hand and fingers Six years ago, Ian Burkhart was paralyzed in a diving accident. Today, he can swipe a credit card, pour a drink, or even play a guitar video game, his fingers and hand movements driven by his own thoughts — no prosthetic arm or robot required.

March 31, 2016 The Annual BCI Research Award 2016 The International Annual BCI Award, endowed with 3,000 USD, is one of the top accolades in BCI research. The Award was created to recognize outstanding and innovative research in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces. The Award is open to any brain-computer interface research worldwide and 10 projects are nominated before the winner is announced. The 10 nominated projects will be published in a book (Springer).

January 31, 2016 Deciphering the Language of the Brain A new initiative gets us closer to understanding how our brain cells communicate. A project recently funded by the Obama administration’s BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) initiative is one of several approaches promising to deliver novel insights by developing new tools that involves a marriage of nanotechnology and optics.

December 4, 2015 Brown, partners enter brain science agreement (BIBS) Brown University has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lifespan, Care New England, the University of Rhode Island, and the Providence VA to share information and collectively plan in support of each other’s programs in brain science research, teaching, and health care.

November 13, 2015 Unsupervised, Mobile and Wireless Brain–Computer Interfaces on the Horizon Researchers are working to engineer practical devices that patients can use in their homes. For paraplegics who lose motor and sensory function as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury or stroke-induced brain damage, simply communicating can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. To help these individuals researchers have developed systems that connect a patient’s brain to a computer, allowing them to type on a virtual keyboard by using their thoughts to point and click on a screen. (Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine)

October 19th, 2015 High-speed spelling with a noninvasive brain–computer interface A collaborative of researchers at Bejing’s Tsinghua University and the University of California developed a noninvasive brain-computer interface with the fastest information transfer rate ever achieved for spellers. (pnas, Spectrum.de)

September 25th, 2015 For the first time, a paraplegic has walked without a robotic suit In California, a paralyzed man took a small step that will be great for mankind. In a world’s first, researchers at the University of California, Irvine are reporting that a completely paralyzed man was able to walk thanks to a brain-computer interface linked to electrical muscle stimulators placed over the leg muscles. (Engadget)

July 21th, 2015 Injectable device delivers nano-view of the brain Harvard Team develops special electrodes. The technology comes from the field of so-called Tissue Engineering and promises to allow, in a few years, permanent brain-computer interfaces. (nnano, heise.de)

July 17th, 2015 A Better Way for Brains to Control Robotic Arms Instead of reducing his capacities, the surgery gave Sorto superhuman abilities. In the experiments, Sorto simply imagines reaching out to grab an object and the robotic arm carries out his commands. While a handful of paralyzed people have previously used brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to control robotic limbs, those subjects’ implants recorded signals from the primary motor cortex, which is linked directly to the spinal cord and muscles. (IEEE Spectrum Telekinesis Made Simple)

April 27th, 2015 Brain-machine interface to control prosthetic hand The technique, demonstrated with a 56-year-old man whose right hand had been amputated, uses non-invasive brain monitoring, capturing brain activity to determine what parts of the brain are involved in grasping an object. With that information, researchers created a computer program, or brain-machine interface (BMI), that harnessed the subject’s intentions and allowed him to successfully grasp objects, including a water bottle and a credit card. The subject grasped the selected objects 80 percent of the time using a high-tech bionic hand fitted to the amputee’s stump. (University of Houston)

April 24th, 2015 Research Building for Brain-Machine Interfaces The Science Council has given the University of Freiburg’s proposal for a new research building for the “Freiburg Institute for Machine-Brain Interfacing Technology” (IMBIT) an outstanding evaluation and has recommended the project for funding.

June 26th, 2015 Robot controlled remotely with thoughts Multi-year research project aims to give a measure of independence to paralyzed people. For someone suffering from paralysis or limited mobility, visiting with other people is extremely difficult. Scientists have been working on a revolutionary brain-machine approach in order to restore a sense of independence to the disabled. The idea is to remotely control a robot from home with one’s thoughts. The research, involving numerous subjects located in different countries, produced excellent results in both human and technical terms. (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) Video Demonstration

June 26th, 2015 New light shed on how neurons control muscle movement Stanford University researchers studying how the brain controls movement in people with paralysis, related to their diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease, have found that groups of neurons work together, firing in complex rhythms to signal muscles about when and where to move. (Stanford Medicine News Center)

June 9th, 2015 Brain-computer interface reverses paralysis in stroke victims St. Louis, Missouri – After three strokes that left the right side of his body paralyzed, Rick Arnold told his wife Kim that he had just one wish. He wants to hold his wife´s hand again.After years of research, Leuthardt discovered that the rule that one side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body isn’t set in stone and that a thought or intention to move could be derived from other parts of the brain. (Reuters)

June 8th, 2015 Injectable nanoelectronics for treatment of neuro-degenerative diseases Researchers at Harvard University are developing a flexible electronic technology that can be directly injected into the brain, in order to monitor and stimulate cerebral tissue. (Harvard University)

June, 2015  Roadmap published We have just released the final version of our roadmap for the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs); you can download the document at http://bnci-horizon-2020.eu/roadmap. If you want to provide feedback, please contact us at info@bnci-horizon-2020.eu.

March 13th, 2015 International BCI Society founded The International BCI Society has officially been founded on March 13, 2015. More details can be found on our BCI Society website section. An official BCI Society website will be online soon.

May 30th, 2015 Intelligent neuroprostheses mimic natural motor control Neuroscientists are taking inspiration from natural motor control to design new prosthetic devices that can better replace limb function. In recent studies, researchers have tested a range of brain-controlled devices that work with their users to intelligently perform tasks. (Eurekalert)

May 21st, 2015 Paralyzed man grabs a beer with a mind-controlled robotic arm A paralyzed man named Erik Sorto has finally been able to drink beer on his own after 13 years, and it’s all thanks to a robotic arm controlled solely by his mind. (Endgadget)

May 14th, 2015 Brain-computer interfaces to help kids with cerebral palsy test better One of the biggest challenges for people with neurological disabilities is that they are frequently more intelligent than their cognitive impairment suggests. The University of Michigan spinout Neurable has collaborated with Wearable Sensing on a brain-computer interface that taps into the cognitive process we use for making certain decisions to help children with cerebral palsy score better on Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. (MedCity news)

March 16th, 2015 A Brain-Computer Interface That Lasts for Weeks The invention could be used for a persistent brain-computer interface (BCI) to help people operate prosthetics, computers, and other machines using only their minds, scientists add. (Penas)

January 27th, 2015 Life as a Bionic Woman: A brain implant offers relief to an epilepsy patient Chelsey Loeb says she’s still getting used to her new cyborg life. In November, neurosurgeons implanted a stimulator in her brain to treat her intractable epilepsy, and doctors turned on the device a few weeks later.(IEEE Spektrum)