OSHER 832 - Medical Breakthroughs in Prosthetics, Bionics and Cybernetics: Science Fiction to Science Fact

From the Six-Million-Dollar Man to Star Trek characters, and even superheroes there have been many visions of how functions of the human body could be replaced with bionic systems. In this class, we will study actual prosthetic, bionic, and cybernetic medical breakthroughs that can restore vision, hearing, ambulation, and even organ function. We will start with an overview of the nervous system as a whole, and explore visual processing, auditory processing, and ambulation. We will discuss what can go wrong with these systems, and how human functions can be replicated, including discussions on neural implants. We will also learn about hip and knee implants, prosthetic limbs, and exoskeletons.