Bionic: Artificial Pacemaker and Electronic Noses

We touched on this earlier with Hugh Herr and his exoskeleton and his artificial limbs, his goal was to make them seamlessly work with the human body at that point we have reach some form of cybernetics. Each d

Behind every great doctor is an array or tools, equipment, and devices all created by biomedical engineers. When thinking about the field of medicine, often times people do not think about who created such common technologies like X-Ray machines, MRI machines, prosthetics, artificial organs, and even crutches. Biomedical Engineering is an extremely important medical profession that focuses on the creation and improvement of medical devices. This field provides many benefits in the area of finances and education as well as a secure and rapidly growing field and a very customizable work experience.

Bionic Body (“Bionic”), a SEC registrant, is a biological medical device company that focuses on the development of implantable biological devices, surgical

One positive impact that bionics can have is reducing or eliminating the amount of pain that users experience.Many prostitutes can be painful on the skin. With the new future technology the limb can be directly placed on the bone and not to the skin. The article The Insane and Exciting Future Of The Bionic Body states that “Herr envisions a future where prosthetics

Jeffrey Brown, in “A ‘Jumper Cable’ for the Brain Helps a Paralyzed Man Regain Hand Movement” from PBS NewsHour, demonstrates that scientists have made progress in combining both the brain and robotics. An example of robotics being combined with the brain is Ian Burkhart who is paralyzed can now move his arms due to new technology in robotics. Brown further supports his claim with a number of facts and studies. First, he talks about how Burkhart can move his arm even though he his paralyzed from the waist down due to his spinal cord being injured in an accident. With the help of a computer chip they are now able to read the message directly from the brain with a brain implant. Second, he talks about the electronic sleeve that Burkhart wears

Breaking the potential technologies into separate categories based on interface and body part effected. The first of these technologies will be the advancements that are the foundations for brain reprogramming. While this sounds more like a mad scientist’s story, in fact, possible to reprogram a person’s brain on a limited scale currently. We see scientists from the University of Western Australia working on this to help people with certain neurological and psychiatric disorders develop a brain chemistry that helps relieve problems within its circuitry. While this study is ongoing it has shown very promising

To achieve this, technology is being built into body enhancements, including limbs, organs and sense. Currently on the market are parts such as hearing aids that help deaf people hear, prosthetic limbs allowing people to replace ones they no longer have and glasses to aid the blind. What everyone may not know about is the more advanced technologies presently being worked on. In Brumfiel’s article (2013), he interviews Bertolt Myer, a man whom from birth was handed the disadvantage of not having a complete arm. With many passing years, Myer had used many types of replacements, and now, his newest addition, a bionic hand. Inside of the moulded forearm are two electrodes that respond to muscular signals in the residual limb: Sending a signal to one electrode opens the hand and to the other closes it (Brumfiel, 2013). These enhancements support a person in living a happier and longer life in better health. But there are also other body enhancements that are purely for fun and personal gain. The question is, do they improve the quality of life? Or do they just prove to be inappropriate, irrelevant and diminish a person’s lifespan. In his article, Infante examines different types of body modification, and one in particular, the magnetic implant (2014). This implant is placed into the flesh of a man’s ring finger and allows gives him the

Creating human organs in labs can become very problematic, very quickly. For example, if the researchers mess up or they miss a certain characteristic about the organ. They could possibly be responsible for somebody’s death or serious illness. Recently it was announced that a human brain is being grown at Ohio State University. Although there are some drawbacks, immediately this would help

Prosthetic limbs have been around for centuries, but what is one thing they all have in common? They have all been a nuisance. In recent years technology of the modern day Prosthesis has ventured to new heights, but they have not perfected an artificial limb yet. With the amount of people in need of prosthetic limbs, the demand for a perfect prosthesis is tremendous. The perfect prosthesis shouldn’t feel or even look like an artificial limb. Prosthetics should go unnoticed throughout the rest of the amputee’s life.

Nerve-splicing is common (4). Organs, from dead people, can be stored and, later, implanted into customers who need them (7). Alternatively, organs (examples: liver and pancreas) can be artificially grown and, later, placed into humans (270). Even immortality can be achieved through a combination of the genetic surgery, serums, hormones and a yearly re-set of DNAs (12). Various robots and machines are encountered throughout the story: the robot crab (30), a hovercraft (39), a shuttle (102), a hologram (107), a microlight (164), a gardening robot (164) and various other types of drones and AI. Human’s personalities and skills can be uploaded into ROM cassettes (Miller and Wagner-Martin 59). Feelings and experiences of one person can be experienced by others through an apparel, called a “simstim” (Gibson 53). Finally, the matrix is the most important element in “Neuromancer” because the global information is stored and transmitted through this global computer network (Miller 107). Certain people, “cowboys”, can projected their consciousness into the matrix and penetrate virtual defenses in order to gain valuable data bases (Gibson

There are two perspectives in biohacking. One is biohacking something you do to biology like for example changing cells. Another example of biohacking is hacking on your own biology where you can gain control of the systems in your body that you will never get to access to. The most common implants are perhaps the radio frequency identification device (RFID), where it has no moving parts and does not requires battery or external technology to communicate with the device. The second, more future gazing, concern with any kind of human enhancement technology is obsolescence. All it is made of up is a small coil of wire and a series of memory chips carrying an electric current, operating just like transformer. That might sounds like a cool idea of having your body full of gadgetry by living in the hyper convenient age of the implant wireless microchip.

In the article, “Brain Mapping allows patient to use mind to control artificial fingers.,” the Baltimore Sun looks at the new advances in the world of prosthetic limbs. Prosthetic limbs are fake body parts that try to recreate the amputated parts of a person or animal. A new theory for prosthetics is brain controlled fingers and joints. In this new hope for amputees, doctors are creating brain controlled arms and hands. Guy Hotson, a biomedical engineer, stated, “we still have a way to go before we get this in a practical clinic setting.” Well, according to biomedical engineers, many prototypes are already being made. But while reading the article, I was confused by what this type of science biomedical engineering was. SInce this word is only

1.Clark, Andy. Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence. Oxford University Press, 2004.

Once thought to be only available in science fiction, prosthetic limbs are a recognized and effective method of restoring functionality to individuals who have lost their natural limbs. According to the Amputee Coalition of America, there were a total of 1,286,000 people living with limb loss in 1996. It is estimated that about 199,000 people in the United States use an artificial limb in 1994. The number only increases as time goes on with the number of people living with limb loss in the United States estimated to be nearly 2 million people in 2008. Prosthetics operate on the same level as glasses as they are not seen as harmful, unethical, or negative in any way. In fact, many see prosthetic limbs as fascinating and regard them as marvels of modern science. People view them as a necessary adaptation that is needed when certain things happen in life, not as something that makes them less human. Prosthetics are about as transhuman as it gets: they restore functionality, make that person a better version of themselves, and helps put that person closer to the levels of normal humans. Prosthetic limbs are seen as becoming more human instead of the reverse. The idea of prosthetic limbs appeals to our collaboration and problem solving instincts. By creating prosthetic limbs, we have solved a problem of limited movement by bringing back what should be present on the body. The idea of restoring

Today scientist have pushed robotic transplants as far as creating avatars to control with their mind. This technology is being tested on monkeys. Russian research projects claim the next stage in science is to create a human body. They are offering immortality in 10 years. This seems a little outrageous to create robotic bodied to place human brains inside of.