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”
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