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Unexpected Elements

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

The news you know, the science you don’t.

The news you know, the science you don’t. Unexpected Elements looks beyond everyday narratives to discover a goldmine of scientific stories and connections from around the globe. From Afronauts, to why we argue, to a deep dive on animal lifespans: see the world in a new way.

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Unexpected Elements: Nerve Recovery in Brain Machine Interface Patients

Discussion & Talk

Patient using the exoskeleton

13/08/2016 GMT

Nerve Recovery in Brain Machine Interface Patients

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Nerve Recovery in Brain Machine Interface Patients

Paraplegic patients using robotic legs and training on a BMI showed some nerve recovery

Nerve recovery in Brain Machine Interface patients; Dark Matter; Olympic Minds; Dementia Citizens Project; The power of cute; Clever ravens

According to a study published in Nature a very small sample of paraplegic patients, who have spent years paralyzed from spinal cord injuries, have regained partial sensation and muscle control in their lower limbs after training with brain-controlled robotics. The key researcher is Miguel Nicolelis, of the Duke University Medical Centre in the United States.

Dark Matter
Scientists still don’t know what dark matter (that glues the Universe together) is made of. One contender is the sterile neutrino particle.  But after CERN reported no evidence for this has been found, IceCube in the North Pole concurred.  Marnie Chesterton reports.

Olympic Minds
As the Rio 2016 Olympic Games play out, Claudia Hammond asks young sportspeople how lifetime psychological foundations can best be laid.  Claudia travels to the Academia Sánchez-Casal in Spain, where psychological training is offered to their young players. 

Dementia Citizens Project
The charity Nesta is piloting two new apps - Book of You and Playlist for Life - for people with dementia and their carers to enjoy shared activities such as listening to music or creating a digital photo story book. Nesta’s John Loder explains more. 

The Power of Cute
Zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explores the science behind our seeming obsession with all things adorable, following an explosion in interest in cuteness, particularly online.

Clever Ravens
The ravens at the Tower of London are helping research into bird intelligence.  Ravens are corvids, known to have big, neuron packed, brains, especially for their body size. Adam Rutherford travels to the Tower to investigate. 

(Photo caption: Patient using the exoskeleton © AASDAP/Lente Viva Filmes)


The Science Hour was presented by Gareth Mitchell with comments from BBC Science reporter Jonathan Webb


Producer: Colin Grant

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