The story didn’t give me much idea of how it works, so for anyone interested:
They implanted ecog electrodes (32 on each side) over primary motor cortex. They don’t record the activity of any particular neurons but instead get a general readout of the activity of the area that would initiate leg movements. This signal is translated into electrical stimuli that go to the nerve roots in his lower back where leg motor neurons leave the spine. That way when he tries to walk, the leg muscles will be stimulated with apropriate coordinated activity. He will never walk fast or dextrously (150 ms decoding time and low res recording and stimulation), but amazing that he can walk at all.
This will make his leg muscles and motor neurons healthier from activity which is good, but chronic implants like this are infection risks (he’s already had to have a brain implant replaced due to infection) and build up scar tissue over time so no one knows how long something like this can be used. I’d not want to ever have these sort of implants, but I wish them the best
