Techalyzer

Medical Science has come a long way and the days of the bionic man or woman are actually here. There are all kinds of prosthetic gadgets that doctors are using nowadays to repair broken bodies.

One of the most fascinating is the bionic eye. This is known as the Argus II Bionic Eye. It is currently undergoing trials in fifty to seventy five patients in the United States. The system uses a camera mounted on a pair of glasses that feeds visual information to 60 electrodes implanted in the retina. This set up aptly mimics what the optic nerve can do.

You can also get a bionic ear. This is called a cochlear implant.  They have been around quite a while. They were first developed in 1969 by William House and Jack Urban. Traditionally they were planted in one ear but lately one is being planted in each ear to assist in localizing sounds.

Believe it or not we are also well on our way to developing a bionic brain. An artificial hippocampus ( the part of the brain responsible for storing new memories) is being created by scientists at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The idea is that the implant will be able to bypass damaged brain tissue by doing an electronic imitation of how it functions.  The bionic brain won’t replace the entire brain but it will help people with brain damage function better.

The bionic arm is also already here. Bionic arms work by detecting movements of the chest muscle that have been connected to the remains of nerves that once went to the lost limb.  They are then attached by a harness and movements are prompted by electronic impulses.

The impulses emitted from the transplanted nerves into the chest muscle are picked up by the harness and processed by a computer which then directs very precise movements of the artificial limb. The impulses emitted from the transplanted nerves into the chest muscle are picked up by the harness and processed by a computer which then directs very precise movements of the artificial limb.

The bionic tongue is well on its way into being part of our reality as well. Scientists at the Luebeck Medical University in Germany have conducted successful tests on pigs to try and create the bionic tongue. This invention is very much like a pacemaker for the heart. The tongue is constructed from throat muscles that are linked to a device that transmits nerve signals.

So far we are still waiting for the bionic nose to be invented. It seems to be a long ways away from being invented. However there are laboratory noses for measuring aromas used for food, beverage, medical and environmental applications. They are also being used in hospitals for smelling for ’superbugs’.