14 DAY TRIAL // Some people might be laughing at her these day, but, judging by how fast the world of science is evolving and developing, Adele might soon amaze us all and use some high-tech equipment to actually set fire to the rain.
Not to beat about the bush, media reports say that, should things go as planned, the first ball at the upcoming World Cup in Brazil will be kicked by a paraplegic wearing an Iron Man-like suit.
Just to make sure everybody gets the full effect of this piece of news, it need be said that a paraplegic is a person who, due to an injury or a medical condition, is unable to feel, let alone move the lower half of their body.
What this means is that, thanks to an international team of brainiacs specializing in medicine, engineering and too-cool-for-words sciency stuff, a person who is unable to walk will get to stand up and kick a football.
Information shared with the public says that the paraplegic who is to kick the first ball at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this coming Thursday is a patient who became paralyzed after having suffered a spinal cord injury.
According to Kentucky, this patient's demonstration will last about 40 seconds. This is by no means enough time for researchers to be able to explain the science behind the Iron Man-like body suit, but the event will help raise awareness about this technology.
“We're not going to be able to show science. You can't do that in 40 seconds. But we will bring awareness to our work and awareness to the condition,” Dr. Lumy Sawaki with the University of Kentucky says in a statement.
The high-tech suit that will allow this paraplegic to play football is best described as an exoskeleton, and its development is the result of recent discoveries in the field of brain-computer interface technology, Dr. Lumy Sawaki further details.
Thus, a special helmet will help pick up on brain signals produced by the patient, which will then be transmitted to a computer fitted onto the person's back. This computer will process these signals and turn them into a series of commands that will be delivered to the exoskeleton in order to get it to move.
The bodysuit was created as part of the Walk Again Project. It is believed that, at some point in the not-so-distant future, its development will help change rehabilitation techniques used in the case of spinal cord or injury patients, maybe even make wheelchairs obsolete.