It is possible that thanks to science and the advancements in technology that people who are paralyzed can eventually start to feel something again. This is what pretty much happened thanks to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where with the use of neural implants, allowed a paralyzed man to feel again.
30-year old Nathan Copeland was paralyzed over a decade ago, but recently thanks to the researchers, he was able to “feel” again with the use of electrodes that were implanted into the sensory cortex of his brain. The electrodes then received signals from a robot arm, which allowed him to experience sensation in the fingers of his paralyzed right hand, thus effectively bypassing his damaged spinal cord.
Prior to this, Copeland actually had sensors implanted into his brain to allow him to control a robotic arm with his mind, so the test was to see if the new sensors could also give him a sense of touch. According to Copeland who described the sensation, “I can feel just about every finger. Sometimes it feels electrical, and sometimes it’s pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed.”
However before you get too excited about this technology, it is still in its very early stages and it won’t be leaving the lab anytime soon as there are still various hurdles that need to be overcome, but it is rather promising.
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