Stanford Radio

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: E151 | Krishna Shenoy: How brain-computer connections could end paralysis By listening into the chatter among a handful of brain cells, an expert in brain-computer interfaces says a future in which people with paralysis control computers with their thoughts is within reach. Whether by injury or disease, paralysis has afflicted humans through the ages. Only now have science and technology converged to a point where scientists can contemplate a day when computers and the human mind can communicate directly to restore a certain degree of independence to people with debilitating spinal injuries and other physical conditions that impede or prevent movement. Electrical engineer Krishna Shenoy is an expert in such brain-computer interfaces and has built machinery by which humans can control the movement of computer cursors with mere thoughts. Using small chips implanted in the brain itself, Shenoy “listens intelligently” to the electrical “chatter” among a hundred or s