A Foxborough, Mass., company has developed technology that plugs a human brain into a desktop computer, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems has developed BrainGate, a product aimed at enabling quadriplegics to do things like surf the Web, write e-mails, play video games and operate TV remotes and telephones just by thinking.
"We can take someone's thought and put it on a screen," said Tim Surgenor, chief executive of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, manufacturer of the device, which is called BrainGate Neural Interface System.
BrainGate has already been tested on one person, and the Food and Drug Administration has given Cyberkinetics permission to test the technology on four other quadriplegics.
The system requires a surgeon to drill a hole in the patient's head and implant a chip on the surface of the brain area responsible for moving arms and hands.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
