The wheelchair controlled by a body piercing

Body piercings have been used to control wheelchairs and computers in a move scientists believe could transform the way people interact with the world after paralysis.

The team at the Georgia Institute of Technology made the unlikely leap from body art to wheelchairs because the tongue is so supple.

The movement of a tiny magnet in a tongue piercing is detected by sensors and converted into commands, which can control a range of devices.

It is demonstrated by people paralysed from the neck down.

Credit: Maysam Ghovanloo