Monkey Brain Trains Robot For Rehab

Friday, January 25, 2008

When you receive the Seal you will have the power to recover from whatever ill befalls you. Now there is good news if you are paralyzed--a monkey has successfully controlled the walking of a robot with his thoughts.

Duke University researchers teamed up with the Japan Science and Technology Agency and accomplished the feat halfway across the world. The monkey walked in North Carolina and the robot walked in Japan.

The monkey Idoya was a rhesus monkey. Rhesus monkeys are small, never weighing more than about 25 pounds. So Idoya walked on a tiny treadmill made specially for the little monkey.

The robot in Japan walked synchronized in real time with the monkey. The robot was 5 feet tall and walked on its own treadmill exactly in step with the little monkey thousands of miles away.

Idoya was outfitted with electrodes that read signals from her brain. The brain cells sent motor and sensory signals through the electrodes into the electronic equipment which processed them and instructed the robot how to walk.

When you are paralyzed your nervous system is damaged and no longer can carry the signals that originate in the brain and end up commanding the limbs of the body how to move.

But your brain continues to send those messages even when the circuit is cut and those messages can not reach the limbs. Since your brain is still sending those messages, all you need is prosthetic devices to walk and move again.

By studying the signals Idoya's brain sent to the electrodes, researchers discovered that neurons in different parts of the brain send signals in different "phases" and frequencies.

And at one point in the experiment, the robot continued walking even after Idoya had stopped walking. So the monkey was thinking about walking more even after having stopped walking.

The goal is to build prosthetic devices that can enable a paralyzed person to move. But that goal is not enough. There is a grander dream that goes along with it.

The brain can talk to the machines. The dream is to find out how the machines can respond to the brain. That way the brain could sense the feeling of touch through sensors in the machine.

It is a little chilling to see the possibilities of the interaction of machines and the vital organs of people. It definitely seems a little like science fiction, but today it is no more fiction. Today it is becoming a reality.

When you are sealed God will give you power to recover from all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Sometimes you will need the help of physicians and counselors, and even, in a case like this, of engineers.

But God will give you the power of recovery, and you will be able to recover against all odds. You will be able to move mountains like genetic predisposition to disease. You can overcome that.

And though you must die at some point you will lengthen your life when you are sealed. You will live a longer and better life today, and you will have the promise of eternal Life when you receive the Seal.

And now Jason would like to invite you to get your FREE report Are You Making These Mistakes as a Christian? and "Get God's 'Seal of Approval' and Get the Victory Over Evil" Jason Witt.

Source: amazins.com
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