Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem
A study of advancements in neural technology, what they can do, and where they could lead us.

Once the stuff of science fiction, neural prosthetics are now a reality. Research and technology are creating implants that enable the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the paralyzed to move.

Shattered Nerves leads us into a new medical frontier, where sophisticated, state-of-the-art medical devices repair and restore failed sensory and motor systems. In a compelling narrative that reveals the intimate relationship between technology and the physicians, scientists, and patients who bring it to life, Victor D. Chase explores groundbreaking developments in neural technology.

Through personal interviews and extensive research, Chase introduces us to the people and devices that are restoring shattered lives—from implants that enable the paralyzed to stand, walk, feed, and groom themselves, to those that restore bladder and bowel control, and even sexual function. Signals from the brains of paralyzed people are captured and transformed to allow them to operate computers. Brain implants hold the potential to resolve psychiatric illnesses and to restore the ability to form memories in damaged brains.

Chase also explores troubling boundaries between restoration and enhancement, where implants could conceivably endow the able-bodied with superhuman capabilities. He concludes with a provocative question: Just because we can, does that mean we should?

“Chase has looked into the future of broken nervous systems and how we might fix them?with all of the corresponding hopes and perils. . . . A fascinating book, both stimulating and exciting, and makes you think about what it means to be human.” —Michael S. Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain
1111369694
Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem
A study of advancements in neural technology, what they can do, and where they could lead us.

Once the stuff of science fiction, neural prosthetics are now a reality. Research and technology are creating implants that enable the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the paralyzed to move.

Shattered Nerves leads us into a new medical frontier, where sophisticated, state-of-the-art medical devices repair and restore failed sensory and motor systems. In a compelling narrative that reveals the intimate relationship between technology and the physicians, scientists, and patients who bring it to life, Victor D. Chase explores groundbreaking developments in neural technology.

Through personal interviews and extensive research, Chase introduces us to the people and devices that are restoring shattered lives—from implants that enable the paralyzed to stand, walk, feed, and groom themselves, to those that restore bladder and bowel control, and even sexual function. Signals from the brains of paralyzed people are captured and transformed to allow them to operate computers. Brain implants hold the potential to resolve psychiatric illnesses and to restore the ability to form memories in damaged brains.

Chase also explores troubling boundaries between restoration and enhancement, where implants could conceivably endow the able-bodied with superhuman capabilities. He concludes with a provocative question: Just because we can, does that mean we should?

“Chase has looked into the future of broken nervous systems and how we might fix them?with all of the corresponding hopes and perils. . . . A fascinating book, both stimulating and exciting, and makes you think about what it means to be human.” —Michael S. Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain
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Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem

Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem

by Victor D. Chase
Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem

Shattered Nerves: How Science Is Solving Modern Medicine's Most Perplexing Problem

by Victor D. Chase

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Overview

A study of advancements in neural technology, what they can do, and where they could lead us.

Once the stuff of science fiction, neural prosthetics are now a reality. Research and technology are creating implants that enable the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the paralyzed to move.

Shattered Nerves leads us into a new medical frontier, where sophisticated, state-of-the-art medical devices repair and restore failed sensory and motor systems. In a compelling narrative that reveals the intimate relationship between technology and the physicians, scientists, and patients who bring it to life, Victor D. Chase explores groundbreaking developments in neural technology.

Through personal interviews and extensive research, Chase introduces us to the people and devices that are restoring shattered lives—from implants that enable the paralyzed to stand, walk, feed, and groom themselves, to those that restore bladder and bowel control, and even sexual function. Signals from the brains of paralyzed people are captured and transformed to allow them to operate computers. Brain implants hold the potential to resolve psychiatric illnesses and to restore the ability to form memories in damaged brains.

Chase also explores troubling boundaries between restoration and enhancement, where implants could conceivably endow the able-bodied with superhuman capabilities. He concludes with a provocative question: Just because we can, does that mean we should?

“Chase has looked into the future of broken nervous systems and how we might fix them?with all of the corresponding hopes and perils. . . . A fascinating book, both stimulating and exciting, and makes you think about what it means to be human.” —Michael S. Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780801892134
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 05/04/2021
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 335
File size: 2 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Victor D. Chase is a science and technology writer who has written for a variety of publications, including Air & Space, IBM’s Think Research, MIT’s Technology Review, Nature Medicine, Popular Science, Science Digest, National Forum, R&D Magazine, Mechanical Engineering, and Environmental Health Perspectives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Learning to Listen All Over Again
2. The Body Electric
3. Of Frogs' Legs and Transistors
4. The Grandfather of Neural Prostheses
5. Accidental Pioneers
6. Giving a Hand
7. Looking Back at an Empty Wheelchair
8. The Dirty Little Secret
9. Sound in the Brain
10. In the Eye of the Beholder
11. Nerves of Platinum and Iridium
12. Pins and Needles in the Brain
13. From the Inside Out
14. Reaching the Depth of Depression
15. A Hole in the Center of the Brain
16. Ethics
17. Biomimetic and Superhuman
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Michael S. Gazzaniga

Victor Chase has looked into the future of broken nervous systems and how we might fix them—with all of the corresponding hopes and perils. It is a fascinating book, both stimulating and exciting, and makes you think about what it means to be human.

Michael S. Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain and member of the President's Council on Bioethics

From the Publisher

Victor Chase has looked into the future of broken nervous systems and how we might fix them—with all of the corresponding hopes and perils. It is a fascinating book, both stimulating and exciting, and makes you think about what it means to be human.
—Michael S. Gazzaniga, author of The Ethical Brain and member of the President's Council on Bioethics

A marvelous synthesis of new ideas.
—V. S. Ramachandran, M.D., author of Phantoms in the Brain

V. S. Ramachandran

A marvelous synthesis of new ideas.

V. S. Ramachandran, M.D., author of Phantoms in the Brain

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