http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/implants http://io9.com/tag/implants

From sloanchurman: "I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant. This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time :)". Amazing. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5845468&view=rss&microfeed=true

Biotechnology now outpaces the bodies we were born with. Today, we can give ourselves additional senses or improve the ones we've got, and we can heighten our strength while also building limbs better than the breakable ones most of us have. Here's a gallery of all the human enhancements that will be improving lives - or just making life more interesting - in the next few decades. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5822074&view=rss&microfeed=true

A French research team has successfully implanted glucose biofuel cells in rats — yielding enough electricity to run a pacemaker without the need for a battery. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5543590&view=rss&microfeed=true

Welcome to Ask a Biogeek, a column where you ask UC Berkeley researcher Terry Johnson any question you want — no matter how weird. There seems to be a strong correlation between my posting an article on a subject, and my RSS feeds filling up with exciting new research, which I then wish I'd been able to include. The usual post-article deluge of goodness, combined with the poster for a Neuromancer movie practically forced me to revisit the burning question: Where are my cybernetic implants? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5033080&view=rss&microfeed=true

Brain implants are here, and they're making people happy. It'll probably still be a while before you can neurointerface directly with the internet or your friends and lovers, but psychologists are testing implantable brain 'pacemakers' that regulate brain activity and so far appear really useful for treating the most stubborn forms of depression. We reported earlier on the Soletra implant, but there are many more. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=393425&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's been 21 years since Dennis Quaid pioneered the field of implantable communications technology by sending traveler's dispatches from inside Martin Short's body (and briefly Meg Ryan's too, hubba hubba!) in Innerspace. Now, Dennis, it seems you've been outdone. The UK's Office of Communications has just issued a report describing tests underway on a Bluetooth wireless sensor network that gets implanted inside people's bodies to monitor their vital signs and automatically alert the paramedics in case they collapse or have a heart attack, according to the Times of London. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=388340&view=rss&microfeed=true

For over a decade researchers have been treating many different ailments, including depression, with electrodes lodged deep in the brain. Devices like this Soletra brain implant deliver electrical impulses to a targeted brain region, essentially creating artificial activity in an area that the brain won't activate on its own. While there have been anecdotal reports that brain implants can help people with depression or OCD, now there is solid proof. A long-range study being presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons demonstrates how patients, over a 10-year period with brain implants, gained increasing control over their moods and obsessive behaviors. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=385327&view=rss&microfeed=true