Researchers at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University have developed a new kind of interface that can convey a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand. It does this by directly stimulating nerve bundles—known as peripheral nerves—in the arms of patients; two people have so far been fitted with the interface. What’s more, the implants continue to work after 18 months, a noteworthy milestone given that electrical interfaces to nerve tissue can gradually degrade in performance.
Reason why it made the list: these breakthroughs in connecting electronic devices through the nervous system can eventually enable everything from artificial limbs to sensory organs like eyes and ears. It’ll probably be a while before we can plug into the Matrix though.
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