Haven’t we seen this somewhere? Oh yeah, it was in the opening scene back-story of the Bruce Willis movie Surrogates:

(Nature) — Two people who are unable to move their limbs have been able to guide a robot arm to reach and grasp objects using only their brain activity, a paper in Nature reports today.

The study participants — known as Cathy and Bob — had had strokes that damaged their brain stems and left them with tetraplegia and unable to speak.

A brain stem stroke is a brutal injury. FUCKING BRUTAL. Depending on the place and severity, it can leave the patient brainlocked. Meaning unable to move any part of their body, legs, fingers, and eyes, but still fully conscious and able to feel pain. It’s not exactly intelligent design – unless the designer is a full-blown sociopath with a penchant for torture. Any advances to treat that kind of horror, and a thousand others like it, should be met with a ticker tape parade. Instead it’s buried on Google news and nary a mention on the morning talk shows.