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Philip O'Keefe, a 62-year-old amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient in Australia recently became the first person to post a message on social media using only his thoughts. On December 23, he posted an initial brief message, "Hello World," on Twitter. The technology that allowed O'Keefe to send his message was developed by brain computer interface company, Synchron—the device is called the Stentrode Brain Computer Interface (SBCI); a type of endovascular brain implant. It was implanted into O'Keefe's brain without opening his skull—instead, it was inserted through his jugular vein. The tiny (8 mm) brain implant was designed to allow people...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often known as motor neurone disease, slowly kills off nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis and eventually death. Right now, there's no known cure – but we might have just gotten closer to finding one. In a new study, scientists were able to reverse one of the biological abnormalities that ALS introduces in cells. It's important to note this has only been achieved for one form of the disease so far, and only in lab samples, rather than in actual human beings. Even with those caveats, though, it's a significant step forward...

Researchers discover common cause of all forms of ALSCHICAGO --- The underlying disease process of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims, has long eluded scientists and prevented development of effective therapies. Scientists weren't even sure all its forms actually converged into a common disease process. But a new Northwestern Medicine study for the first time has identified a common cause of all forms of ALS. The basis of the disorder is a broken down protein recycling system in the neurons of the spinal cord and the brain. Optimal functioning of...