Monkeys and Mind Control

By Alex Granados,

Published February 16, 2012 at 10:33 AM EST

The prospect of quadriplegics walking again once seemed like wishful thinking. The thought of a monkey’s brain controlling a robot was relegated to the realm of science fiction. But real science is always expanding the scope of the possible. Host Isaac-Davy Aronson talks to Miguel Nicolelis, professor of neuroscience at Duke University and founder of Duke’s Center for Neuroengineering, about how his research with monkeys may help millions of people to walk again.

Alex Granados

Alex Granados joined The State of Things in July 2010. He got his start in radio as an intern for the show in 2005 and loved it so much that after trying his hand as a government reporter, reader liaison, features, copy and editorial page editor at a small newspaper in Manassas, Virginia, he returned to WUNC. Born in Baltimore but raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Alex moved to Raleigh in time to do third grade twice and adjust to public school after having spent years in the sheltered confines of a Christian elementary education. Alex received a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a minor in philosophy, which basically means that he used to think he was really smart but realized he wasn’t in time to switch majors. Fishing, reading science fiction, watching crazy movies, writing bad short stories, and shooting pool are some of his favorite things to do. Alex still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up, but he is holding out for astronaut.

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Isaac-Davy Aronson

Isaac-Davy Aronson is WUNC's morning news producer and can frequently be heard on air as a host and reporter. He came to North Carolina in 2011, after several years as a host at New York Public Radio in New York City. He's been a producer, newscaster and host at Air America Radio, New York Times Radio, and Newsweek on Air.

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