If you, like me, grew up with television in the early 80s, there is no way you could have missed the two hit shows Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman. These are two characters who have a fair bit of gadgetry fused with their natural organs to the point where they almost have superhuman powers a la Superman. While a complete Bionic Woman is still a little far-fetched, scientists are now in the nascent stages of getting there.
Take, for example, the new nerve stimulation technique that may have raised the level of consciousness in a 35-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for 15 years in France. The process involves using a chest implant to send pulses of electricity to the Vagus nerve, which connects the brain to other major organs of the body. Vagus nerve stimulation is already used to treat people with epilepsy and depression. The French patient showed significant improvements in attention, movement and brain activity after one month of Vagus nerve stimulation, according to reports.
He began responding to simple orders, such as, following an object with his eyes and turning his head on request. He also appeared more alert and was able to stay awake when listening to his therapist read a book. During months of experimental treatment, his gaze could follow a moving object and he turned his head toward people speaking to him. The man also shed tears and smiled while listening to a favourite song by French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman.
The report in the US journal Current Biology is based on just one patient, but researchers say, they plan to expand their work to others because of the improvements they have seen in the man, who was incapacitated by a car accident 15 years ago. The patient was classified as having moved from a vegetative state to a “state of minimal consciousness,” according to brain scans that showed improvements in areas of the brain involved in movement, sensation and awareness.
“Brain repair is still possible even when hope seems to have vanished,” said researcher, Angela Sirigu of Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon, France.
A previous study, published in 2007 in the journal Nature, described behavioural improvements with thalamic stimulation – another type of deep brain stimulation - after severe traumatic brain injury. Researchers say, they plan to broaden their research to other patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state.
In fact, the method of treatment used in this instance, Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) has also been proven to relieve pain for patients with episodic but not chronic cluster headache, new research suggests.
This treatment modality may have advantages over current options, such as, triptans, which are contraindicated for patients with cardiovascular disease, or inhaled oxygen, which may not always be available.
This is going to be an exciting new arena for science, with the Vagus nerve stimulation market estimated to rise to US$ 11 billion by 2024. The intervening seven years may indeed mark improvements in the treatment methods.
This is just the beginning on the road to more bionic individuals. If you remember seeing the original Robocop (not the remake), Peter Weller portrayed a police officer who nearly dies in a shooting rampage by gangsters. The hospital literally brings him back from the dead by making him virtually a robot – he gets all kinds of mechanical and neural implants. This might indeed be possible in the not too distant future.
In fact, this kind of future was discussed in the recent National Geographic TV documentary “Year Million” which explored what humans will be like in the far future. One central theme of the narrative was Artificial Intelligence (AI). The futurists interviewed in the program noted that one day, AI will equal or surpass Human Intelligence, an event known as The Singularity. But, that is not all – we will infuse AI to our brains and bodies as well. We can already manipulate genetics to a great extent and if paired with a dose of AI, we might be able to create “perfect” human beings and even live forever.
Of course, this is fraught with danger from the perspective of 2017, but for someone born in 2117 it may not be so unusual. If someone told you in 1907 that in 2017 you will be able to get titanium legs for double amputees, what would your reaction have been ? Technology progresses fast and what is unthinkable today will be taken for granted tomorrow.
Curing or reversing blindness (39 million people worldwide are legally blind) is the number one priority for most scientists working in this field. Second Sight, the maker of the world’s first commercial artificial retina, which provides partial sight to people with a certain form of blindness, is launching a clinical trial for a brain implant designed to restore vision to more patients. The company is testing whether an array of electrodes placed on the surface of the brain can return limited vision to people who have gone partially or completely blind. The device, called the Orion, is a modified version of the company’s current Argus II bionic eye, which involves a pair of glasses outfitted with a camera and an external processor. In Europe, two more retinal prosthetics have since been approved - one is marketed by French company Pixium Vision and another by German firm Retina Implant.
Also known as a bionic eye, all three devices are intended to bring back some vision in patients with a genetic eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa. People with retinitis pigmentosa are able to benefit from the device because the disease destroys only specialized photoreceptors while leaving the retina’s remaining cells intact.
These retinal cells are able to transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, producing patterns of light in a patient’s field of view. The new device, the Orion, borrows about 90 percent of its technology from the Argus II but bypasses the eye.
Instead, an array of electrodes is placed on the surface of the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visual information. Delivering electrical pulses here should tell the brain to perceive patterns of light.
The Orion, essentially replaces the eye and the optic nerve completely and anyone who had vision but has lost it from almost any cause could potentially be helped by the Orion technology.
From artificial eyes and hearts to lungs, research is being carried out on a whole host of bionic implants that will one day help not only accident victims, but also sufferers of many debilitating diseases to see the world in a whole new light. It will blur the lines between man, machine and AI, but huge progress is inevitable in this sector.