Of cells and wires

Of cells and wires The first step to computer augmentation and neuroprosthetics lies in the connection between nerve cell and metal. How are scientists bridging the gap? By Edyta ZielinskaIllustrations by Thom GravesNeural probe illustrations by Christopher Burke. Provided courtesy of NeuroNexus Technologies, Ann Arbor, Michigan. he man skis down sharp inclines at tremendous speeds, sees wind frolic through a woman's hair as the French countryside passes outside of th

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By Edyta Zielinska
Illustrations by Thom Graves
Neural probe illustrations by Christopher Burke. Provided courtesy of NeuroNexus Technologies, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

he man skis down sharp inclines at tremendous speeds, sees wind frolic through a woman's hair as the French countryside passes outside of the car window, checks out a nurse's cleavage. These are the visions and memories of the protagonist in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a film by Julian Shnabel about a man with locked-in-syndrome whose vibrant mind can only control the movement of his left eye. The audience experiences locked-in syndrome through the thoughts of the witty and irreverent Jean-Dominique Bauby, the former journalist and editor of the fashion magazine Elle, as he learns to communicate, and in fact dictate a bestselling memoir, with only the blink of his eye. Bauby became "locked-in" in 1995 and died in 1997 from pneumonia, seven years before the first man with ...

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