Restoring Connections with a Prosthetic Hand

               The nervous System and the brain is the " most incredible machine" because it is a complicated system of pathways that somehow makes a person unique and who they are. Not only is it responsible for making sure all the processes in your body continue, it is also what lets you interact with the world. It allows you to move and respond to your environment. Not only that, it allows you to understand your environment and internalize what happens all around you. It what helps us to live but live the person that we want to be by letting us decide things for ourselves. It is also incredible because it can transport messages from head to toe and in between, yet it takes little time to do so. Another thing that I have thought about since Gardner's class freshmen year is that one of the assumptions in science is that all observations are based on human senses. The sensory input we have is our only ability to access outside ourselves. That means that the definition we have of life can ONLY be based on our knowledge and experiences with the outside world. The characteristics of the Central Nervous System are so amazing because they are truly our only gateway to the outside world. 

                   In the TED Talk video Todd Kuiken was able to connect the prosthetic arm machine to the Pectoral muscle that could then connect to the brain via nerves with "computer signals" through the arm. Using the old pathways that were lost with amputation people were able to relearn how to move in different ways and faster then they could before. The work he did allowed them to feel pressure, but also to move more human like and naturally.  It  was easier to control and therefore they were more successful and took less time to do simple things like move block from one box to another. He has found a way to "tap" into the nervous system in certain ways to give feeling to people that don't have an arm. It is so amazing that as I was watching the video I was almost jealous because I wanted to try and see how it felt to use this new technology. This technology is so cool because lessens the gap between electronics and humans.

http://www.dekaresearch.com/deka_arm.shtml
http://www.zeitnews.org/life-sciences/biotechnology/blueprint-restoring-touch-prosthetic-hand