New brain technology may allow amputees to move their prosthetic limbs
  CanWest News Service
Thursday, December 23, 2004


The brain's electrical currents are so powerful that amputees may soon
be able to use them to flex their artificial limbs, reveals work by a
Coquitlam, B.C., medical technology company that recently won a contract
with the U.S. Department of Defense. The contract, signed by VSM MedTech
Ltd. this week, is to research how neurons can provide the stimulus to
activate prosthetics. The company has sold its MEG devices, which
resemble old-fashioned hair-drying units and measure the magnetic fields
produced by tiny electrical currents, to help physicians and researchers
examine brain responses in epileptic seizures and other brain diseases.
Software then pinpoints the source of the brain activity within
millimetres. The experiments with the Pentagon will explore how signals
from the brain can be retrieved to help paralyzed veterans use neural
control to move their prosthetic devices.

C National Post 2004