Brain-Machine Interface Powered by EEG

From the wisbusiness.com article "Researchers use brain interface to post to Twitter"

In early April, Adam Wilson posted a status update on the social networking Web site Twitter - just by thinking about it.

Just 23 characters long, his message, "using EEG to send tweet," demonstrates a natural, manageable way in which "locked-in" patients can couple brain-computer interface technologies with modern communication tools.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineering doctoral student, Wilson is among a growing group of researchers worldwide who aim to perfect a communication system for users whose bodies do not work, but whose brains function normally. Among those are people who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain-stem stroke or high spinal cord injury.

Now, judging by the video, the way it works is that an inference algorithm constantly analyzes EEG measurements while letters are highlighted in random order on the screen. I'm guessing the highlighting events correlate with certain measurement spikes and to speed things up, the alphabet is organized into a grid where entire columns or rows can be flashed at once (faster than flashing the entire alphabet one step at a time -at least- once in order to determine whether a specific letter is being focused).

The approach is crafty but it also shows how crude current EEG technology is. If we had finer spacial resolution (by several orders of magnitude), we could probably do away with the on-screen alphabet entirely, instead relying on brainwave analysis alone which would require some previous training for both the brain and the machine, but after establishing a common "protocol" understanding would be pretty much automatic.

[en] Simplistic Infection Simulation

A very simple zombie-type infection simulator written in Ruby for OpenGL (developed on OS X but should also work for Windows and Linux), only 7 kilobytes!

It's nice boilerplate code for any multi-agent AI code you might want to plug in, so here it is: download ruby zombies .rb. Warning: it's easy to get addicted to the beautiful patterns of blue triangles running for their lives ;-)

[en] New Map IDs the Core of the Human Brain

Via Slashdot:

"An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex — the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level thinking — connect and communicate. Their groundbreaking work identified a single network core, or hub, that may be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain. So basically our brain is a network connected to a hub. I wonder if I can get an upgrade to a GigE switch?"

[en] Daily Tails of Chase...

OK, not strictly medical, but this is inspiring on so many levels, the tale of Chase the disfigured cat, playing a role in helping disfigured humans in dealing with their condition:

I was in an accident when I was 4 wks, I became disfigured. I have a Furry Will to survive and I am completely healed now at age 3. I require medication during the day to keep my eyes moist. I will always look different but I am in NO PAIN! I have seen 10 vets and they can attest to that! I'm a happy kitty and hope to help other humans (especially those disfigured) thru my work as a therapy cat feel just as great about themselves and realize that not everyone looks perfect and that is OK.

Emphasis mine.

Yes, it's sappy. But I think this is just an awesome story.

[en] Glass Templates for Bone (Re)Growth

A new type of bio-active glass could possibly serve as a growth template for the formation of bone structures, while the porous glass itself dissolves and releases calcium stored inside:

The glass activates genes present in human bone cells which encode proteins controlling the bone cell cycle and the differentiation of the cell to form bone matrix and rapid mineralisation of bone nodules. It is the release of soluble silica and calcium ions in specific concentrations that activate the genes. Gene activation occurs only when the timing sequence of the cell cycle is matched by that of the glass surface reactions and controlled release of the ions.

Read more here.

[en] Brain-Cellphone Interaction

I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on this one. I mean, come on: 4 phones with 1 watt microwave output max, there is no way that more than a few milliwatts actually go into a single piece of popcorn there. No way should that be enough to make them pop! On the other hand, your brain is probably somewhat larger than the average popcorn seed, so it receives a larger dose of energy - but still...

[en] Thoracic Stent Receives FDA Approval

Via Medgadget:

The Talent Thoracic Stent Graft System makes thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) accessible to an additional 25 percent of patients, because of its unique features. It is available in the widest range of diameters – from 22 mm to 46 mm. This size matrix offers physicians multiple options to customize devices for their patients’ needs and to treat a wider range of anatomies than with the other available endografts.