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Scientists Rewire the Brain to Restore Motion (A.P.) - Scientists at the University of Washington have come upon a way to help paralyzed patients get back the use of their limbs, and in concept, it's quite simple.

Paralyzed people can't use their muscles because of damaged nerves, which prevent the brain's commands from getting to the muscles. The new system re-routes the brain's electrical signals around these damaged nerves and connects directly to the muscles.

The system's been tested on two partially paralyzed monkeys, who were able to move their wrists. It isn't as simple as a bypassing wire, though - the scientists had to connect a neuron in the brain's motor cortex to a computer, which then detects when the monkey wants to move. Oddly enough, it didn't matter which neuron was wired - the monkeys were able to use their paralyzed wrists fairly soon after being hooked up to the system.

This is, however, quite rudimentary use we're talking about - the system only acts on a single muscle, but human motion is a more complex activity that involves many muscles at the same time. The next challenge for the researchers is to figure out how to expand the system to work for more complex movements. Until then, paralysis patients, keep your fingers crossed.