2019-09-01_TechLife

(Greg DeLong) #1
Johnny Matheny lost his arm
to cancer, but using the Myo armband from
Kitchener’s Thalmic Labs he’s able to
control a prosthetic arm with his brain.

CYBERMEN, ROBOCOP, THE Te r m i n a t o r :
anyone familiar with science fiction will be all
too aware of the concept of the cyborg.
The term was first used in 1960 by scientists
Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in
reference to an enhanced human that could
survive in extraterrestrial environments. The
cybernetic organism – to give it its full name



  • is a combination of biology and technology,
    a living being with computerised or
    mechanical implants designed to replace or
    enhance aspects of their existing body.
    Cyborgs are no longer just found in films
    and comic books; they’re very real, with
    enhancements in technology making it far
    easier, and safer, to graft technology into
    living creatures, from insects right up to
    human beings.
    One of the side-effects of recent wars in the
    Middle East has been to put battlefield
    medicine back at the top of the research
    agenda, with advancements in motorised
    limbs creating replacement arms and legs that
    can respond to nerve impulses in the same
    way as a biological limb.
    In 2016 the first-ever Cyborg Olympics
    took place in Switzerland, where some of this
    amazing tech was put to the test, from an
    exoskeleton – a frame that goes over your
    body and moves your limbs for you –
    designed by NASA that allowed a paraplegic
    to walk, to a motorised arm that one
    competitor was able to use for a range of tasks
    just by thinking about it, including
    completing a jigsaw puzzle and slicing a loaf
    of bread.


It’snotjusttheneedtoreplaceinjuredor
missinglimbsthat’sdrivingthingsforward,
butalsotrends.‘Biohacking’is wherepeople
implanttechnologyintotheirbody.
Knownas‘bodyhacks’,thesehave
includedimplantingmagnetsandnear-field
communication(NFC)chips,likethoseyou
useforwirelesslychargingyourphone,in
fingersthatcanbeprogrammedtoopencar
doorsorlinktoa website,orcomputerchips
implantedinotherpartsofthebodythatcan
monitorthingsliketemperature.
Butmanyexpertsseethefutureofcyborgs
beingnotjustaboutimprovingourbodies
withthingslikeroboticarms,butalso
implantingthingsintoourbrains.Knownas
neurotech,thisfieldofresearchis lookingat
howwecanusethingslikeneuralmemory
implantsasa cureforAlzheimer’sdisease,
andhowartificialintelligencecanpredict
wherebodytremorscausedbyParkinson’s
diseasecouldoccur.

TESTING FOR BUGS
One controversial aspect of cybernetics is
its use on insects. Scientists have
successfully implanted electrodes into the
brainsofbeetles,allowingthemto‘hijack’
thecreatures’nervoussystemsanddirect
themviaremotecontrol.
Otherstudieshaveseenelectrodes
implanteddirectlyintotheirmuscles,
whichhascreateda moreresponsive
insect-cybernetichybrid.
Oneoftheadvantagesofusinginsects
is thattheirbodiesarewelldesigned.
Indeed,roboticshasoftenlookedtothe
insectworldforinspirationwhen
designingmachines.Theworkcreatesthe
possibilityofswarmsofbeesbeing
deployedonthebattlefield,orworker
antsbeingusedinconstructionprojects.

Scientistshaveimplantedbeetleswithelectrodes
thatallowthemtobedirectedbyremotecontrol.

“I controlled a robot


hand: I was in New


York and the hand


was in Reading, but


it felt like me, like I


had another hand”


DISCOVER
POP SCIENCE

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