Science & Technology

Monkey's brain controls 'avatar' movements

By T.K. Randall
February 20, 2014

Image: Inside My Head
Credit: Andrew Mason / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) In an experiment that is eerily reminiscent of James Cameron's blockbuster movie Avatar, researchers have found a way to translate movement commands from one animal and manifest them in a second.Two monkeys were used in the research, a 'master' monkey with a brain implant and a second 'avatar' monkey with electrodes in its spine. By scanning the neural activity of the master monkey the system was able to electrically stimulate the spinal cord of the avatar monkey, making it move as though it were the master monkey's own body.

"The goal is to take people with brain stem or spinal cord paralysis and bypass the injury," said Dr Ziv Williams. "The hope is ultimately to get completely natural movement, I think it's theoretically possible, but it will require an exponential additional effort to get to that point."

Source: BBC News

Tags: Monkey, Brain, Avatar