More than a man

News headlines are full of messages about new smartphones with 15 cores and gigabytes of internal memory, laptops that would be envied by the best gymnasts in the world. But at the same time, as some companies are concerned about the resolutions of the screens and the number of cores of their future devices, others set themselves completely different, truly impressive tasks, such as settling Mars by 2030 or using a personal avatar for each person by 2045. But the latter lack the means to propagate their inventions and ideas in the media, and all references to their development, for the most part, do not go beyond university blogs and specialized sites. If, just like me, you are wondering how close humanity has come to technological singularity, welcome!

Bionic eye

Already this year, Second Sight Medical Products has launched eye implants on the US market that can restore sight to blind people. The device is not yet universal, and can only help people who have degraded retinal photoreceptors (only in America this disease occurs in 200,000 people). Special electrodes replace the damaged photoreceptors and send signals from the external camera, attached to the glasses, to the optic nerve.

BiOM

Until recently, artificial legs were a piece of wood or plastic, and they could only be called a full replacement with a very big stretch. But BiOM is a completely different level prosthesis. It consists of a multitude of sensors and microprocessors, and the built-in engines help to complete each step. IWalk , which developed this prosthesis, was founded by Professor Hugh Herr, who taught at MIT, and lost both legs due to frostbite. But this accident not only did not break it, but also inspired to study Biomechanics and create a prosthesis that can fully replace a lost leg.

i-limb ™ ultra

In my last article I told about the project of Italian scientists on deciphering nerve impulses to arm, in order to manage the prosthesis of the arm only by the power of thought. But since their project is still far from completion, the Touch Bionics solution looks quite convenient. Especially for their dentures, they have released a mobile application ( biosim , iOS), which allows you to manage the prosthesis from the phone. The application provides quick access to 24 different positions of the artificial brush.
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3D printing with human stem cells

3-D printing is used to print a variety of things, starting with the figures of Master Yoda, and ending with parts of the human body and food . But the most unusual and perhaps the most useful application is the printing of human tissues and organs with stem cells. This will be possible thanks to a group of Scottish scientists working at Heriot-Watt University. They developed a special valve for stem cell printing, and conducted the first tests by printing viable cell spheroids of the same size. And spheroids are small bricks for building a cell, and later - tissue and organ.
Detailed description of the printing process. (PDF, 2.11 MB)

Implantable optoelectronics

Optogenetics allows the use of light to monitor and control the activity of individual parts of the brain, which can lead to a real breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, depression and spinal cord injuries.
But this method requires genetic modification of nerve cells and their subsequent connection to optical fibers and electrical wires. During the experiments, bulky wires coming out of the animal's skull prevented its movement and did not allow to achieve positive results. Now, thanks to the joint development of scientists from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and Washington University-St. Louis, this problem is solved. Their device, only 20 microns thick, can be implanted not only in the brain, but also in other tissues.

Conclusion

You can not bear the load - invent the wheel. You can not catch food - invent a spear. Restrictions!
No limits, no progress. No progress - the culture is rotting.