By Tomas Kellner
Business Insider published on Tuesday its global list of 50 “groundbreaking scientists who are changing the world.“ The publication stated that "these scientists’ revolutionary research in human happiness, evolutionary biology, neutrino physics, biotechnology, archeology, and other fields is helping to advance our lives in more ways than we could ever imagine.”
The list includes Alan Stern, NASA’s principal investigator for the New Horizons spacecraft that just snuggled up to Pluto, molecular and cell biologist Jennifer Doudna from the University of California at Berkeley who discovered a powerful way to edit DNA, and also Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue (below), whose BrainGate team is building brain-controlled prosthetics.
In 2011, the team’s technology allowed Cathy Hutchinson (top), who had suffered stoke that left her paralyzed from the neck down, to control a robotic arm with her thoughts, pick up a Thermos bottle, and the take the first sip of coffee on her own in 15 years.
BrainGate is also working with scientists at GE Global Research to design tiny microelectronic brain implants (see above) that can help them better understand the electrical signals generated by the brain’s neurons. Read more here about the research.