An estimated 50,000 Americans suffer from locked-in syndrome, a condition in which people with normal cognitive brain activity suffer severe paralysis, often from injuries or an illness such as Lou Gehrig's disease. Boston University neuroscientist Frank Guenther works with the National Science Foundation's Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (CELEST), which is made up of eight private and public institutions mostly in the Boston area. Its purpose is to synthesize the experimental modeling and technological approaches to research in order to understand how the brain learns as a whole system. Guenther's research is looking at how brain regions interact, with the hope of melding mind and machine.


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