Both LiveScience.com and New Scientist are reporting today that a team of Italian and German neuroscientists working in conjunction with mobile chip maker Infineon have created a "neuro-chip," a hybrid microchip that interfaces living neurons with traditional silicon circuitry. In addition to providing new insights into the brain's inner workings, the groundbreaking work could one day lead to organic computers that use living brain cells for memory or to the creation of prosthetic devices for treating neurological disorders. […]

A team of neuroscientists and bioengineers from MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Center for Biomedical Engineering have been able to partially restore the vision of rodents whose visual neural pathways had been severed by injecting them with a tiny, biodegradable substrate on which brain cells were able to regrow and reconnect. The research marks the first time that nanotechnology has been used to heal a damaged brain region and restore lost functionality. The results could lead to major advancements in the […]

Every year New York scientific literary agent and founder of the Third Culture movement John Brockman poses a question to over 100 of the top scientists, philosophers and thinkers alive. The responses, which are usually unexpected, sometimes provocative, and always fascinating, are published on January 1st on the website Edge.org. Psychologist Steven Pinker suggested this year's question: "What is your most dangerous idea?" The responses are online and well worth the read. […]

It was announced yesterday that in an effort to create better models for studying neurological disorders, a team of scientists from the Salk Institute led by Dr. Fred Gage have successfully bio-engineered mice to be born with a small percentage of human brain cells. The process involves injecting 2-week-old mouse embryos with roughly 100,000 human embryonic stem cells. The mice created could be a valuable asset to scientists as they struggle to understand and combat neurological disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. […]

Hugh Herr, director of MIT's Biomechatronics Group, has created the Rheo Knee, an artificial knee with an integrated microprocessor that both learns the user's walking style and is able to quickly react and adapt to changes in terrain. The microprocessor calculates the position of the knee and the load on the limb 1000 times per second, continually learning the wearer's gait and optimizing the proper resistance in the joint for each step. […]

Although the acronym IREX stands for International Robot Exhibition, not everything on display in Tokyo this week is a robot in the traditional sense. Take the HAL-5 bionic suit for example. Developed by Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba in Japan over a period of more than ten years, the HAL-5, or hybrid assistive limb, was developed to help the elderly and people with physical disabilities walk and lift heavy objects. It was first unveiled at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan earlier this […]

AP Reporter Yuri Kageyama has written a summary published at LiveScience.com of the day she was "remote-controlled" while visiting a research center in Japan. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., a Japanese telephone company, has created a headset that delivers a low voltage electric current that can be controlled remotely and affects the balance and movement of the wearer. NTT is developing this technology to use in video games and amusement park rides, although Ms. Kageyama sees less benign applications for the system. […]

Nature.com has published an article about the work of Ravi Saraf, a chemist from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and his student Vikas Berry in integrating living bacteria into an electrical circuit that is part of a humidity-detecting device. While there have been other instances of circuits built to react to microorganisms, this "cellborg", as it has been dubbed, is the first time they have actually been built into the circuits themselves. This work has excited many biotechnologists as they see this as […]

CNET News.com is running an interview with one of my favorite authors, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil to promote his new book "The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology." Kurzweil, whose previous books include "The Age of Intelligent Machines" and "The Age of Spiritual Machines," predicts that we will reach the Singularity, a time when changes to ourselves and our environment due to advances in computing, AI, nanotechnology, and biology will exceed the ability for pre-Singularity humans to understand or even predict, by […]