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Winter 2009

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13 www.hplusmagazine.com Bridging the Brain to the World: A Perspective on Neural Interface Systems, John P. Donoghue, Neuron http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(08)00897-0 resources IF YOu HAvEN'T BEEN FOllOWING AlONG WITH All THE ADvANCES IN CONTACT lENSES, YOu ARE MISSING OuT. Efficiency is a top priority in our modern lives and doctors and patients are no exception, particularly when it comes to diagnosing and treating illness. When Grandma, Grandpa, or Billy the kid down the street has glaucoma, they want to have their vision treated as quickly and accurately as possible. And if all this can be packaged with a hint of coolness, that wouldn't hurt. SENSIMED has found a way to make glaucoma treatment and monitoring quicker, better, and most importantly, more accurate. The Triggerfish allows ophthalmologists to do something that was previously cumbersome or impossible. Patients with glaucoma wear the slightly futuristic Triggerfish contraption which monitors the eye without hindering eyesight. It transmits the data to a recorder and then to the doctor's computer, allowing the doctor to see exactly what went on with the patient's eye throughout the day. With this constant monitoring, the doctor is better equipped to treat the patient and their individual needs. And not only do they look awesome, it's called Triggerfish, maybe to increase its likelihood of being mistaken for an indie band. tRiggeRfisH monitors your eyes KRISTI SCOTT Sensimed http://www.sensimed.ch/S-Trig-solution.htm resources THE MOST EFFECTIvE BRAIN-COMPuTER INTERFACES (BCI) — lIKE THE KIND uSED BY RHESuS MONKEYS IN THE FAMOuS uNIvERSITY OF PITTSBuRGH EXPERIMENTS TO FEED THEMSElvES zuCCHINI uSING A ROBOT ARM CONTROllED ONlY BY THEIR THOuGHTS — leave something to be desired, if we're going to, one day, use them for human enhancement. They involve microelectrodes embedded directly into the brain. The process of implanting them requires exploratory probing, which can burst blood vessels and cause stroke-like symptoms or other neurological problems. It's not a procedure you'd want to undergo unless you were completely paralyzed and willing to risk your life for a chance at communicating with the outside world. For those who don't like holes in their heads there is EEG (electroencephalography), which uses electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp to measure the brain's electrical activity. until recently, it appeared as if the potential of EEG was limited as an advanced BCI technology. But with the introduction of faster computers and better machine-learning algorithms to eliminate noise and detect meaningful neural signals through the skull, researchers are again looking to EEG for advanced BCI. Over the past few years, numerous proof-of-concept experiments have shown that people unable to move can use simple EEG-based BCI systems for point-and-click, robot control, and even spelling at rates as fast as 20 words per minute. An article titled "Bridging the Brain to the World: A Perspective on Neural Interface Systems," by John P. Donoghue and published in Neuron, gives an overview of some of the most exciting recent developments in both EEG and more invasive systems. In 2009, DARPA budgeted $4 million to investigate the possibility of "computer-mediated telepathy": systems that read words in neural signals before they are even spoken. If progress like this continues, keyboards could become as anachronistic as typewriters are today. MICHAEl ANISSIMOv eeg with Bci is a-ok!

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