People left paralysed by a stroke could soon get some movement back thanks to artificial neurons that stimulate muscle in a coordinated way.
Dubbed BIONs, the injectable devices the size of rice grains are already used to stimulate muscles to stop them wasting away. Now their developer, Gerald Loeb of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, is developing a system that will coordinate a network of BIONs to allow someone whose arms have been paralysed by a stroke, cerebral palsy or spinal-cord injury to lift a glass of water or turn the pages of a book.
Battery-powered implants are…
