Monkeys use brain power to move robotic arm

Medical researchers at Duke University said Tuesday that their recent research revealed that the brain cells of monkeys adapt when moving robotic arms as if they were their own. This follows a 2003 study that showed monkeys were capable of controlling robotic arms using only their brain, although at the time it wasn't evident that the monkeys' brain cells had actually changed. The study, which is published in the Journal of Neuroscience (some of our favourite bedtime reading), concludes that the primate brain is extraordinarily adaptable and could lead the way towards brain-operated devices for handicapped people.