A man paralysed from the chest down after a swimming accident has regained the ability to feed himself and drink from a cup, thanks to a brain implant developed by US researchers. Keith Thomas, from Massapequa, New York, broke his neck diving into a pool in July 2020, but after being fitted with a "double neural bypass" and undergoing months of training, he can now move his arms and hands again and feel sensation through touch. The breakthrough is significant because the technology also appears to have partly rewired his nervous system, restoring some function and sensation even when the implant is switched off, raising hopes it could eventually help many others with spinal injuries.

The system, created by Prof Chad Bouton's team at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York, uses electrodes implanted in Thomas's brain to detect his intention to move, routing signals to his arms and hands, while pressure sensors on his hand send signals back to simulate touch, allowing him to handle delicate objects like egg shells. After 35 weeks of training, described in Nature Medicine, strength in his right arm rose by 86% and his left by 62%, while a separate technique called "cortical mirroring" restored feeling in a previously numb area of his wrist after 25 weeks of therapy. Bouton said a recent follow-up found these gains had persisted for more than two years, though it remains unclear how widely applicable the technology will be, with further trials needed.