The Man with the Bionic Brain

Book excerpt: A behind-the-scenes view of cutting-edge medical research and discoveries that are helping people with disabilities regain control, this book is an insightful look into the possibilities of technology and the associated ethical, political, social, and financial controversies. After he was stabbed and paralyzed from the neck down, Matthew Nagle, a former high school football star, made scientific history when neurosurgeons implanted microelectrodes in his brain that recognized his thought patterns, allowing him to control a computer cursor. With the BrainGate system he was able to use e-mail, manipulate a prosthetic hand, adjust TV settings, and play video games—all just by thinking. Dr. Jon Mukand, his research physician and a rehabilitation specialist, weaves together Matt's story with firsthand accounts of other courageous survivors of stroke, spinal injuries, and brain trauma and the amazing technology that improves their lives. Not only a discussion of scientific advances in the battle against paralysis, The Man with the Bionic Brain is an inspirational book about how biomedicine gives hope to people with disabilities and enables them to take control of their lives. Jon Mukand, MD, PhD, is rehabilitation medicine specialist and medical director of the Southern New England Rehabilitation Center and serves on the clinical faculty of Brown University and Tufts University. He is the editor of Vital Lines: Contemporary Fiction about Medicine, Articulations: The Body and Illness in Poetry, and Rehabilitation for Patients with HIV Disease. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island.