Colorado man Les Baugh got two bionic arms attached from shoulder level this summer, 40 years after losing both arms, as part of a Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program test run at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Baugh is the "first bilateral shoulder-level amputee" to wear two MPLs at the same time. Unlike Jan Scheuermann who controlled a robotic arm with a pair of neural implants, though, Baugh had to undergo a procedure called targeted muscle reinnervation, which reassigned the nerves that once controlled his arms and hands. (Engadget)

In another demonstration that brain-computer interface technology has the potential to improve the function and quality of life of those unable to use their own arms, a woman with quadriplegia controlled the almost human-shaped hand of a robot arm with just her thoughts to pick up big and small boxes, a ball, an oddly shaped rock, and fat and skinny tubes. (Nasdaq GlobeNewswire)

Brain-computer interfaces have helped prosthetics go a long way, but now researchers from South Korea have developed a prosthetic skin that might enable neuroprosthetic devices to provide the sensation of touch to the user. (ZME Science)

Modern brain-computer interfaces allow neuroscientists to study how brains operate. Neurosurgeons are already trying out these devices to help severely disabled people regain some of their independence . Nevertheless, these brain implants are normally tethered to an external computer using wires, because the amount of data they generate can be quite challenging for wireless transmission. An international team of researchers headed by a group at Brown University has developed a BCI capable of transmitting its readings to an external receiver at up to 200 megabits per second. (medGadget)