How the brain gets your body to move

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 02 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Jerusalem (Israel) - Researchers from Jerusalem's Hebrew University have managed to decipher the nervous system's signals which command some limbs, in a breakthrough which could allow paraplegic people to recover prosthetics-assisted mobility.

The scientific team achieved the breakthrough following a series of experiments on chimpanzees, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported Thursday.

'We don't have the technology yet to understand the signals which command the fingers of s pianist... But we can already define the electric signal emitted by a part of the brain which will activate the limbs of a chimpanzee,' said the head of the research team, professor Eitan Segev.

The findings are due to be presented officially in two weeks during a conference held in Florida and chaired by Christopher Reeve.

The actor who rose to stardom for his role as Superman has been wheelchair-bound following a horse-riding accident in 1995 and has since been spearheading a campaign to further neurological research.

• Additional
• References
• Citations