Daniel Moran has dedicated his career to developing the best brain-computer interface, or BCI, he possibly can. His motivation is simple but compelling. "My sophomore year in high school," Moran says, "a good friend and I were on the varsity baseball team. I broke my arm and was out for the season. I was feeling sorry for myself when he slide into home plate head first and broke his neck.
"So I knew what I wanted to do when I was 15 years old, and all my career is just based on that."
Moran, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering and neurobiology in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, is young enough that his career has coincided with the rapid development of the field of brain interfaces. When he began, scientists struggled to achieve lasting control over the movement of a cursor in two dimensions. These days, his aspirational goal is mind control of the nerves and muscles in a paralyzed arm.
This is marvelous technology. To read the rest of the article, click here.