IF, according to Tim Robbins's character in The Shawshank Redemption, "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things", then the story that a stroke victim was able to move a robotic arm with the power of thought must give unparalleled optimism to paralysed people the world over.
IF, according to Tim Robbins's character in The Shawshank Redemption, \"hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things\", then the story that a stroke victim was able to move a robotic arm with the power of thought must give unparalleled optimism to paralysed people the world over.
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Ali Howard
The mere idea that a tiny chip implant could allow such people to actually move objects – and possibly, in future, even walk again – is the stuff of science fiction.
But for Boston stroke victim Cathy Hutchison, 59, the reality of this scientific miracle played out right before her very eyes. For the first time in almost 15 years, Ms Hutchison, who is normally unable to move any of her limbs, was able to sip a coffee without the help of her carer. And she did it with the use of a mechanised arm as part of a project led by Professor John Donoghue, Dr Leigh Hochberg and the rest of their Brown University and Harvard Medical School research team. Watching such a miracle was, they said, a moment of "pure joy". That and the culmination of decades of research.
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