February 2018 | Top

Paying with Your Face

February 08, 2018 mai heikal 0

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Paying with Your Face</span></h1>
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Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals. Will other countries follow?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Availability: Now</span><br />
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">S</span><span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hortly after walking through the door at <a href="https://www.faceplusplus.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Face++</span></a>, a Chinese startup valued at roughly a billion dollars, I see my face, unshaven and looking a bit jet-lagged, flash up on a large screen near the entrance.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Having been added to a database, my face now provides automatic access to the building. It can also be used to monitor my movements through each room inside. As I tour the offices of Face++ (pronounced “face plus plus”), located in a suburb of Beijing, I see it appear on several more screens, automatically captured from countless angles by the company’s software. On one screen a video shows the software tracking 83 different points on my face simultaneously. It’s a little creepy, but undeniably impressive.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the past few years, computers have become incredibly good at recognizing faces, and the technology is expanding quickly in China in the interest of both surveillance and convenience. Face recognition might transform everything from policing to the way people interact every day with banks, stores, and transportation services.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Technology from Face++ is already being used in several popular apps. It is possible to transfer money through Alipay, a mobile payment app used by more than 120 million people in China, using only your face as credentials. Meanwhile, Didi, China’s dominant ride-hailing company, uses the Face++ software to let passengers confirm that the person behind the wheel is a legitimate driver. (A “liveness” test, designed to prevent anyone from duping the system with a photo, requires people being scanned to move their head or speak while the app scans them.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The technology figures to take off in China first because of the country’s attitudes toward surveillance and privacy. Unlike, say, the United States, China has a large centralized database of ID card photos. During my time at Face++, I saw how local governments are using its software to identify suspected criminals in video from surveillance cameras, which are <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/01/29/170469038/in-china-beware-a-camera-may-be-watching-you" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">omnipresent in the</span></a> country. This is especially impressive—albeit somewhat dystopian—because the footage analyzed is far from perfect, and because mug shots or other images on file may be several years old.</span></div>
<div class="l-article-list" data-widget-layout="" data-widget-type="list" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: right; float: right; margin: 10px 296.797px 20px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px 20px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 255px;">
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Paying With Your Face</span></h5>
<ul class="article-list" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; list-style: none; margin: 30px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Breakthrough</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Face recognition technology that is finally accurate enough to be widely used in financial transactions and other everyday applications.</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why It Matters</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The technology offers a secure and extremely convenient method of payment but could raise privacy concerns.</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Key Players</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">- Face++ <br style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.6em;" />- Baidu <br style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.6em;" />- Alibaba</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Availability</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Now</span></span></li>
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Facial recognition has existed for decades, but only now is it accurate enough to be used in secure financial transactions. The new versions use deep learning, an artificial-intelligence technique that is especially effective for image recognition because it makes a computer zero in on the facial features that will most reliably identify a person (see “<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/513696/deep-learning/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="s2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">10 Breakthrough Technologies 2013: Deep Learning</span></a>”).</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">“The face recognition market is huge,” says <a href="http://www.idm.pku.edu.cn/staff/zhangshiliang/index.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Shiliang Zhang</a>, an assistant professor at Peking University who specializes in machine learning and image processing. Zhang heads a lab not far from the offices of Face++. When I arrived, his students were working away furiously in a dozen or so cubicles. “In China security is very important, and we also have lots of people,” he says. “Lots of companies are working on it.”</span></div>
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<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--text-col" data-widget-layout="text-col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><picture style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><source media="(min-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=1200&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 850px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=1024&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=2048&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 550px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=850&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=1700&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 401px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=550&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=1100&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=401&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=802&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><img class="article-img article-img--text-col" src="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/payfaceemployeefacescan_0.jpg?sw=1200&cx=0&cy=0&cw=1391&ch=782 2x" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 494.656px;" /><div class="article-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</span></picture><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--text-col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Employees simply show their face to gain entry to the company’s headquarters.</span></figcaption></figure><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">One such company is <a href="http://www.baidu.com/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Baidu</a>, which operates China’s most popular search engine, along with other services. Baidu researchers have published papers showing that their software rivals most humans in its ability to recognize a face. In January, the company proved this by taking part in a TV show featuring people who are remarkably good at identifying adults from their baby photos. Baidu’s system outshined them.</span></div>
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<br />
<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--3col" data-widget-layout="3col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: right; float: right; margin: 6px 0px 30px 262.875px; max-width: 400px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><picture class="video-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 280px;"></picture></span><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--3col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Face++ pinpoints 83 points on a face. The distance between them provides a means of identification.</span></figcaption></figure><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Now Baidu is developing a system that lets people pick up rail tickets by showing their face. The company is already working with the government of Wuzhen, a historic tourist destination, to provide access to many of its attractions without a ticket. This involves scanning tens of thousands of faces in a database to find a match, which Baidu says it can do with 99 percent accuracy.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://keg.cs.tsinghua.edu.cn/jietang/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Jie Tang</a>, an associate professor at Tsinghua University who advised the founders of Face++ as students, says the convenience of the technology is what appeals most to people in China. Some apartment complexes use facial recognition to provide access, and shops and restaurants are looking to the technology to make the customer experience smoother. Not only can he pay for things this way, he says, but the staff in some coffee shops are now alerted by a facial recognition system when he walks in: “They say, ‘Hello, Mr. Tang.’” </span></div>
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TECHNOLOGY Paying with Your Face

Paying with Your Face Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals...

Reversing Paralysis

February 08, 2018 mai heikal 0

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<h1 class="article-topper__title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 36px; line-height: 1.15; margin: 0px 0px 10px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">
Reversing Paralysis</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">
Scientists are making remarkable progress at using brain implants to restore the freedom of movement that spinal cord injuries take away.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Availability: 10 to 15 years</span></div>
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<li class="article-topper__meta-item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-size: 19px; margin: 24px 0px 0px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">by <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/profile/antonio-regalado/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Antonio Regalado</a></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "neuehaas" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span>Go, go!” was the thought racing through Grégoire Courtine’s mind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The French neuroscientist was watching a macaque monkey as it hunched aggressively at one end of a treadmill. His team had used a blade to slice halfway through the animal’s spinal cord, paralyzing its right leg. Now Courtine wanted to prove he could get the monkey walking again. To do it, he and colleagues had installed a recording device beneath its skull, touching its motor cortex, and sutured a pad of flexible electrodes around the animal’s spinal cord, below the injury. A wireless connection joined the two electronic devices.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The result: a system that read the monkey’s intention to move and then transmitted it immediately in the form of bursts of electrical stimulation to its spine. Soon enough, the monkey’s right leg began to move. Extend and flex. Extend and flex. It hobbled forward. “The monkey was thinking, and then boom, it was walking,” recalls an exultant Courtine, a professor with Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">This story is part of our March/April 2017 Issue</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">In recent years, lab animals and a few people have controlled computer cursors or robotic arms with their thoughts, thanks to a brain implant wired to machines. Now researchers are taking a significant next step toward reversing paralysis once and for all. They are wirelessly connecting the brain-reading technology directly to electrical stimulators on the body, creating what Courtine calls a “neural bypass” so that people’s thoughts can again move their limbs. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">At Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, a middle-aged quadriplegic—he can’t move anything but his head and shoulder—agreed to let doctors place two recording implants in his brain, of the same type Courtine used in the monkeys. Made of silicon, and smaller than a postage stamp, they bristle with a hundred hair-size metal probes that can “listen” as neurons fire off commands.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">
Reversing Paralysis</span></h5>
<ul class="article-list" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; list-style: none; margin: 30px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Breakthrough</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Wireless brain-body electronic interfaces to bypass damage to the nervous system.</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Why It Matters</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Thousands of people suffer paralyzing injuries every year.</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Key Players</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne <br style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.6em;" />- Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering <br style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.6em;" />- University of Pittsburgh <br style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.6em;" />- Case Western Reserve University</span></span></li>
<li class="article-list__item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.3; margin: 15px 0px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="article-list__item__h" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Availability</span><span class="article-list__item__deck" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">10 to 15 years</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To complete the bypass, the Case team, led by Robert Kirsch and Bolu Ajiboye, also slid more than 16 fine electrodes into the muscles of the man’s arm and hand. In videos of the experiment, the volunteer can be seen slowly raising his arm with the help of a spring-loaded arm rest, and willing his hand to open and close. He even raises a cup with a straw to his lips. Without the system, he can’t do any of that.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Just try sitting on your hands for a day. That will give you an idea of the shattering consequences of spinal cord injury. You can’t scratch your nose or tousle a child’s hair. “But if you have this,” says Courtine, reaching for a red espresso cup and raising it to his mouth with an actor’s exaggerated motion, “it changes your life.”</span></div>
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<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--text-col" data-widget-layout="text-col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><picture style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><source media="(min-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=600&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=1200&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 850px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=1024&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=2048&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 550px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=850&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=1700&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 401px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=550&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=1100&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=401&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=802&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><img class="article-img article-img--text-col" src="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=600&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=600&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing2a.jpg?sw=1200&cx=125&cy=0&cw=2188&ch=1644 2x" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 494.656px;" /><div class="article-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
</span></picture><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--text-col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Grégoire Courtine holds the two main parts of the brain-spine interface.</span><div class="article-illustration" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline; width: 370.984px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">PHOTOGRAPH BY HILLARY SANCTUARY | EPFL</span></div>
</figcaption></figure><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Case results, pending publication in a medical journal, are a part of a broader effort to use implanted electronics to restore various senses and abilities. Besides treating paralysis, scientists hope to use so-called neural prosthetics to reverse blindness with chips placed in the eye, and maybe restore memories lost to Alzheimer’s disease (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2013: <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/513681/memory-implants/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Memory Implants</a>”).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And they know it could work. Consider cochlear implants, which use a microphone to relay signals directly to the auditory nerve, routing around non-working parts of the inner ear. Videos of wide-eyed deaf children hearing their mothers for the first time go viral on the Internet every month. More than 250,000 cases of deafness have been treated.</span></div>
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<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--text-col" data-widget-layout="text-col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><picture class="video-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 494.656px;"></picture></span><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--text-col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">In this video made by EPFL researchers, a monkey with a spinal cord injury that paralyzed its right leg is able to walk again.</span></figcaption></figure><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But it’s been harder to turn neural prosthetics into something that helps paralyzed people. A patient first used a brain probe to move a computer cursor across a screen back in 1998. That and several other spectacular brain-control feats haven’t had any broader practical use. The technology remains too radical and too complex to get out of the lab. “Twenty years of work and nothing in the clinic!” Courtine exclaims, brushing his hair back. “We keep pushing the limits, but it is an important question if this entire field will ever have a product.”</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span class="s1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Courtine’s laboratory is located in a vertiginous glass-and-steel building in Geneva that also houses a $100 million center that the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss funded specifically to solve the remaining technical obstacles to neurotechnologies like the spinal cord bypass. It’s hiring experts from medical-device makers and Swiss watch companies and has outfitted clean rooms where gold wires are printed onto rubbery electrodes that can stretch as our bodies do.</span></div>
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<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--text-col" data-widget-layout="text-col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><picture style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><source media="(min-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=600&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=1200&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 850px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=1024&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=2048&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 550px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=850&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=1700&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 401px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=550&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=1100&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=401&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=802&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><img class="article-img article-img--text-col" src="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=600&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=600&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant1.jpg?sw=1200&cx=511&cy=325&cw=2762&ch=1553 2x" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 494.656px;" /><div class="article-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</span></picture><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--text-col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">A close-up of a brain-reading chip, bristling with electrodes.</span></figcaption></figure><figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--text-col" data-widget-layout="text-col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><picture style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><source media="(min-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=1200&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 850px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=1024&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=2048&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 550px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=850&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=1700&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 401px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=550&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=1100&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=401&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=802&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><img class="article-img article-img--text-col" src="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=600&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/implant2.jpg?sw=1200&cx=0&cy=310&cw=5032&ch=2830 2x" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 494.656px;" /><div class="article-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</span></picture><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--text-col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Flexible electrodes developed to simulate the spinal cord.</span></figcaption></figure><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The head of the center is John Donoghue, an American who led the early development of brain implants in the U.S. (see <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/403761/implanting-hope/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">“Implanting Hope”</a>) and who moved to Geneva two years ago. He is now trying to assemble in one place the enormous technical resources and talent—skilled neuroscientists, technologists, clinicians—needed to create commercially viable systems.</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: millertext, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.63; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: -6px; max-width: 600px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 494.656px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Among Donoghue’s top priorities is a “neurocomm,” an ultra-compact wireless device that can collect data from the brain at Internet speed. “A radio inside your head,” Donoghue calls it, and “the most sophisticated brain communicator in the world.” The matchbox-size prototypes are made of biocompatible titanium with a sapphire window. Courtine used an earlier, bulkier version in his monkey tests.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">As complex as they are, and as slow as progress has been, neural bypasses are worth pursuing because patients desire them, Donoghue says. “Ask someone if they would like to move their own arm,” he says. “People would prefer to be restored to their everyday self. They want to be reanimated.”</span></div>
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<figure class="l-article-img l-article-img--8col" data-widget-layout="8col" data-widget-type="imageset" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 30px -100px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 848px;"><picture style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 848px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><source media="(min-width: 1024px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1080&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=2160&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 850px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1024&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=2048&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 550px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=850&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1700&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 401px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=550&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1100&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=401&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=802&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></source><img class="article-img article-img--8col" src="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1080&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183" srcset="https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=1080&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 1x,https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/ma17-10-reversing5.jpg?sw=2160&cx=7&cy=229&cw=2104&ch=1183 2x" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 848px;" /><div class="article-enlarge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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</span></picture><figcaption class="article-cap article-cap--8col" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 212px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">A model of a wireless neurocommunication device sits on a skull.</span></figcaption></figure><br />
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TECHNOLOGY Reversing Paralysis

Reversing Paralysis Scientists are making remarkable progress at using brain implants to restore the freedom of mov...

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