Spinal injuries can be devastating with the loss of movement in arms and legs.  The primary problem is damage to neurons, those cells that transmit signals to and from the brain.  There have been many attempts to fix neurons.  Scientists at MIT have developed a new synthetic nanomaterial that is like rubber but able to transmit electrical and optical signals.  Some day this kind of material could fix connections between tissues and has the mechanical properties that would allow it to be flexible.  There are a lot of challenges including making sure that the body accepts this material and doesn’t try to reject it

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