One of the most exciting aspects of the 2014 FIFA World Cup that doesn’t involve national team coaches banning their players from having sex is the Walk Again Project, which will allow a paralyzed teenager to kick the first ball at the upcoming global tournament. While the project is a collaborative effort by institutions around the world, including the Technical University of Munich, the Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil, and Colorado State, it is being led by Brazil’s Miguel Nicolelis, who appears in this month’s Maxim Smart 100 issue.
Obviously, there are a lot of scientific terms with lots of syllables going on in this process that will allow the person’s brain to communicate with and command an exoskeleton, but fortunately the team at CSU put together this slightly-easy-to-follow explanation of how the suit will work. That way, when you’re watching this incredible occasion live at a bar, you can pretend in between Fireball shots that you know all about it. People will think you’re a genius.
