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Category: cyborgs

Implant helps paralyzed man to feed himself and drink from a cup

A neuroprosthetic system has helped a man with paralysis move his hand and feel touch again following a spinal cord injury, reports research published in Nature Medicine. Some of the system’s benefits continued even when the device was turned off, suggesting that it may support longer-term recovery as well as help movement in real time.

Spinal cord injury is a leading cause of paralysis, and more than half of cases involve tetraplegia, in which movement of the arms and legs is affected. Complete spinal cord injuries, in which there is no voluntary movement or feeling below the level of the injury, are particularly difficult to treat. Previous brain–computer interface systems have helped restore some movement but have not yet restored a sense of touch or supported longer-term recovery.

Chad Bouton and colleagues developed a “double neural bypass” system that reads brain signals linked to a person’s intention to move. It then uses these signals to help control a person’s own hand by delivering targeted stimulation to the spinal cord and the part of the brain involved in touch, the primary somatosensory cortex.

Chinese scientists develop world’s first bionic auditory neural interface, enabling artificial auditory nerve to ‘understand’ sounds

Chinese scientists have successfully developed the world’s first bionic auditory neural interface, enabling conventional cochlear implants to progress from helping users hear sounds to helping them understand what they hear, marking a major advance from restoring hearing perception to rebuilding auditory function, the Global Times learned from the research team on Monday.

Beyond traditional cochlear implants, this research led by Xu Wentao, professor from the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, provides a new technological pathway for auditory reconstruction through an innovative electronic replacement and restorative solution. The research results were recently published in the international academic journal Nature Materials.

A soft exoskeleton could restore hand function in people with motor impairments

Recent technological advances have opened valuable possibilities for supporting people with motor impairments or who are recovering from injuries to the brain, spinal cord or nerves. Millions of people worldwide currently experience difficulty moving their hands or other parts of their body. Some of these motor impairments are associated with progressive neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), while others are the result of neurological damage caused by an injury or a stroke.

Researchers at Technical University of Munich and the Center for Rehabilitation Passauer Wolf recently developed a new lightweight, soft exoskeleton that could allow people with severe motor impairments to move their hands again and grasp objects. The new robotic system, introduced in a paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, combines an advanced mechanical design with muscle-sensing technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

“This recent paper discusses restoring hand function for individuals with severe hand impairment,” Gordon Cheng, who led the study, told Tech Xplore. “Hand functions are critical to every aspect of life. The patient we were working with has near-complete hand function loss, and our work aims to help people with such needs.”

The most Massive Mechanical gods ever Created in Sci-Fi

What if machines could truly live, evolve, think, and even become gods? In this video, we explore the biggest mechanical lifeforms ever created in science fiction, ranging from towering biomechanical titans to universe-spanning artificial intelligences that completely redefine the meaning of life itself. These are not ordinary robots, piloted mechs, or simple automatons. They are genuine living machine entities whose metallic bodies function just like biological organisms, possessing consciousness, intelligence, and in many cases, unimaginable cosmic power. From the ancient Mechanical Gods of Mazinger and the divine alien Machine Gods of Fate to Harbinger leading the terrifying Reapers of Mass Effect, every entry showcases beings that blur the line between technology and life. We also dive into the colossal mechanical fortress Alexander from Final Fantasy XIV, the mighty Cityformers of Transformers, the mysterious Broken God Mekhane from SCP, the legendary Mechonis from Xenoblade Chronicles, the wish-granting cosmic machine Galactic Nova from Kirby, and the enormous alien intelligence known as the Tet from Oblivion. The scale only becomes more unbelievable as we reach Mata Nui from BIONICLE, whose body contains an entire civilization, the omniscient Aeon Nous from Honkai: Star Rail, and the eternal rivals Primus and Unicron, whose planet-sized forms have shaped the destiny of the Transformers universe for billions of years. We then move beyond planets into truly mind-bending territory with V’ger from Star Trek, the ever-growing Getter Emperor that expands beyond galaxies, and finally the Atlas from No Man’s Sky, an entity whose existence encompasses an entire simulated universe. Every entry is carefully explained with lore, origins, abilities, and scale comparisons to help you understand just how enormous and powerful these mechanical gods and monsters truly are. Be sure to watch until the very end to discover which living machine claims the number one spot, and let us know in the comments which mechanical lifeform you think deserves to be on this list.
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Hugo de Garis on AI: Are We Building Gods or Terminators?

In 2012, I sat down with Hugo de Garis, and he told me billions of people could die this century over one question: should we build machines smarter than ourselves?

Back then, it sounded like pure science fiction. He called the coming conflict the Artilect War. On one side, the Cosmists who want to build godlike machine intelligence. On the other hand, the Terrans who would rather go to war than gamble on human extinction. In between, the Cyborgists who just want to become gods themselves. He even had a word for the body count:

Gigadeath.

Fourteen years later, the war he predicted hasn’t arrived. The question underneath it has moved to the center of the room.

Because de Garis got one thing profoundly right, even if the timeline was lurid. The hard part was never whether we could build these systems. It’s whether we should, and who gets to decide. That is not a #technology question. Technology is only ever the How. This is a Why and a What, a question about power, values, and what kind of species we choose to become.

He was asking it when almost nobody else was. That is why this conversation still holds up.

Continue reading “Hugo de Garis on AI: Are We Building Gods or Terminators?” | >

Scientists create artificial neurons that help cure chronic diseases

Artificial brain cells could now be implanted in the brain to repair the damage caused by chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, thanks to a team of scientists who created bionic neurons that work like the real thing.

A team of scientists at the University of Bath created artificial neurons that could potentially help overcome paralysis, connect minds to machines, and restore failing brain circuits.

The new technology can help patients who have degenerative diseases affecting the brain.

China Just Dropped An Ultra-Bionic AI Human Replica Robot

China just revealed the U-World U1, a full-size ultra-bionic humanoid robot built for mass production. But the real story is not just movement, skin, or AI. It is the plan to make robots that can read emotions, remember people, and even recreate someone’s face and voice.

📩 Brand Deals \& Partnerships: [email protected].
✉ General Inquiries: [email protected].

📌 What You’ll See:
China reveals the U-World U1 humanoid robot.
SOURCE: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platform… pricing starts at 119,800 yuan with over 13,361 orders SOURCE: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20… Customized robots may recreate faces and voices SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea… Walker S2 robots are already entering real border checkpoints SOURCE: https://interestingengineering.com/ai… 🚨 Why It Matters This is bigger than one robot launch. Humanoids are moving from factories into homes, borders, elder care, emotional support, and even human replicas. That could change how people live with machines. #ai #robots #humanoid.
U1 pricing starts at 119,800 yuan with over 13,361 orders.
SOURCE: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20…
Customized robots may recreate faces and voices.
SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea…
Walker S2 robots are already entering real border checkpoints.
SOURCE: https://interestingengineering.com/ai…

🚨 Why It Matters.
This is bigger than one robot launch. Humanoids are moving from factories into homes, borders, elder care, emotional support, and even human replicas. That could change how people live with machines.

#ai #robots #humanoid

Cyborg Luddite Steve Mann: Technology That Masters Nature Isn’t Sustainable

14 years ago, Steve Mann told me that technology that masters nature is not sustainable.

At the time, that sounded like the poetic caution of a man the media had nicknamed “the cyborg Luddite.” Today it reads like a weather report.

Steve is the person the IEEE named the father of wearable computing. He built the EyeTap decades before Google Glass, invented HDR imaging now sitting in the phone in your pocket, and was called the world’s first cyborg. So when he argues for using less, for choosing which technologies to embrace and which to walk away from, he is not speaking from fear of the machine. He is speaking from a deeper intimacy with it than almost anyone alive.

His core move was to refuse the framing everyone else accepted.

Not more technology. Not less technology. Appropriate technology. Balanced with nature instead of replacing it.

And here is the line that has aged into something close to prophecy:

Continue reading “Cyborg Luddite Steve Mann: Technology That Masters Nature Isn’t Sustainable” | >

Custom prosthetic hand adapts to each user, decoding 19 gestures in real time

Most prosthetic hands today still struggle with a fundamental problem: No two amputees are the same, yet most devices are designed as if they are. That mismatch makes natural, intuitive control difficult, often turning what should feel like a seamless extension of the body into something that requires constant learning and adjustment.

Even with advanced technology, users are frequently left to interpret faint muscle signals that can shift with sweat, skin changes or everyday movement—creating a gap between intention and control that can be frustrating and, in some cases, lead people to abandon the device altogether.

Researchers have made progress by improving how muscle signals are interpreted, but the core challenge remains: The signals are often unstable and hard to translate into natural movement.

Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More

In 2012, transhumanism was still being called “the most dangerous idea in the world.”

Fourteen years later, we’re casually debating brain-computer interfaces, radical life extension, and what it even means to stay “human” in an age of AI. The fringe became the headline.

So I went back into the Singularity. FM archive and pulled my conversation with Dr. Natasha Vita-More, often called the first female philosopher of transhumanism. We recorded “Transhumanism 101” to cut through the fear and the ideology and get to the actual ideas.

We covered a lot:

Why Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein still shapes how we react to enhancement technology, two centuries later. Where the panic comes from (Bill Joy, Fukuyama) and why most of it misses the point. The real differences between transhuman, posthuman, and cyborg. And critical thinking as a core tenet, not a footnote, of the whole project.

The line that stuck with me, and that lands even harder today: “Get creative about the future.”

Continue reading “Transhumanism 101 with Natasha Vita-More” | >
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