A promising first step for those with spinal cord injuryGrégoire Courtine and the scientists in his lab helped a paralyzed rat learn to walk again, voluntarily, through a treatment that combined drugs, electrical stimulation of the lower spinal cord, the support of a robotic arm and a little bit of chocolate. When their study appeared in the June 2012 issue of Science, it sparked a lot of excitement. Articles in Scientific American (“With Willpower, and a Jolt of Electricity, Paralyzed Rats Learn to Walk Again”) and The New York Times (“In Rat Experiment, New Hope for Spine Injuries”) followed, as did a segment on ABC News (“Paralysed rats on ‘incredible’ road to recovery”).
http://blog.ted.com/2013/11/06/a-promis ... alk-again/