By Olga Kharif
Business Week Online
A 25-year-old man unable to move from the neck down recently did what many assumed impossible. After a knife attack that had left him paralyzed, all he could move was his head, which he used to push a switch and summon a nurse. And he could steer his wheelchair by blowing into a straw near his face. That was it.
Then last June, a Foxborough (Mass.) company called CyberKinetics opened the man's skull and implanted a special chip no larger than a baby aspirin.
That implant has given him a few additional and precious abilities. When hooked to a special computer via a cable, the chip translates the young man's thoughts into commands that let him move a cursor across a PC screen and open e-mail.
He can draw a circle with a computer painting program. And he can use a robotic hook to perform simple tasks like picking up a candy and sliding it across a table.
All he has to do is think.
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