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Spinal implant allows Parkinson’s patient to walk for miles
A Parkinson’s patient can now walk 6km (3.7 miles) thanks to an implant targeting the spinal cord. The man, 62-year-old “Marc” from Bordeaux, France, developed severe mobility impairments from the degenerative disease.
MIT using disco-style lighting to calm erratic brain activity
MIT's brainiacs aren't exactly new to the world of partying, and now scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to "reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light." The presumably rave-inspired pulsing design offers up the prospect of "controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease," which could theoretically lead to the creation of "optical brain prosthetics to control neurons, eliminating the need for irreversible surgery." Aside from being thrilled that this stuff could help us avoid dodgy robot-led surgeries, it could also help gamers who tend to suffer from epileptic fits when dealing with those head-mounted displays. Additionally, the team is also looking at utilizing the new system to more effectively study neural circuits, but considering that this technology has the ability to "exert exquisite control" over individual neurons within you dome, we certainly hope Big Brother doesn't get ahold of this.[Via Slashdot]
Cure diseases using the PS3: March 23rd
Folding@home is finally coming to the PS3 next week. The program, which is bundled in the next firmware revision, will allow your PS3 to assist in the research of various diseases, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers. The program leverages the unused processing power of the Cell chip, and can be set to run automatically when your PS3 begins to idle. According to the press release, "These simulations can take up to 30 years for a single computer to complete, Folding@home enables this task to be shared among thousands of computers connected via the network ... The Cell/B.E. processor inside each PS3 is roughly 10 times faster than a standard mainstream chip inside a personal computer (PC), so researchers are able to perform the simulations much faster, speeding up the research process."With more than two million PS3s worldwide, and many more to come, the collective power of the PS3 will undoubtedly provide crucial data in the fight against these diseases. If you'd like to participate, don't forget to update to the newest firmware on March 23rd, and access Folding@home from the Network option in the XMB.[Via Joystiq]