In 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester in England achieved a breakthrough when they isolated graphene for the first time. A flat form of carbon made up of a single layer of atoms, graphene is the thinnest known material—and one of the strongest. Hailed as …
Read More »I Tried These Brain-Tracking Headphones That Claim to Improve Focus
Activity trackers have come a long way. No longer mere step-counters, they can monitor your heart rate, blood oxygen level, and skin temperature, and can even detect whether you suffer from sleep apnea. Now, there’s a new wearable for your brain—and I’ve been testing it out for the past two …
Read More »This Brain Implant Lets People Control Amazon Alexa With Their Minds
Mark, a 64-year-old with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, uses Amazon Alexa all the time using his voice. But now, thanks to a brain implant, he can also control the virtual assistant with his mind. ALS affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle …
Read More »Flush With Cash, Tether Has Got Microsoft, Google, and Amazon in Its Crosshairs
Paolo Ardoino, the new CEO of crypto company Tether, is grappling with a difficult but enviable problem: how best to spend billions of dollars. Recently flush with cash, Tether is pushing into unfamiliar new fields, like AI. Ardoino’s ambitious plan is to mount a challenge to Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. …
Read More »Elon Musk’s Neuralink Is Ready to Implant a Second Volunteer
A second person will soon receive Neuralink’s experimental brain implant, according to Elon Musk, the company’s cofounder. In a video update on Wednesday, Musk said the surgery is planned to take place in “the next week or so.” The company is making changes to the surgical procedure and placement of …
Read More »Neuralink’s First User Is ‘Constantly Multitasking’ With His Brain Implant
In 2016, Noland Arbaugh suffered a spinal cord injury while swimming in a lake. The details are fuzzy, but what he remembers is rushing toward the water with his friends, diving in, and hitting his head on something—or someone. He floated to the surface, unable to move. Doctors later confirmed …
Read More »Elon Musk’s Neuralink Had a Brain Implant Setback. It May Come Down to Design
Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink revealed that it experienced a problem with its brain implant after the device was installed in its initial participant, 29-year-old quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh. After the January 28 procedure, Musk was quick to announce on X that Arbaugh was “recovering well” and that “initial results show promising …
Read More »China Has a Controversial Plan for Brain-Computer Interfaces
At a tech forum in Beijing last week, a Chinese company unveiled a “homegrown” brain-computer interface that allowed a monkey to seemingly control a robotic arm just by thinking about it. In a video shown at the event, a monkey with its hands restrained uses the interface to move a …
Read More »We Finally Know Where Neuralink’s Brain Implant Trial Is Happening
Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink has chosen the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, as the initial study site to test its Telepathy device. The first participant in Neuralink’s study, Noah Arbaugh, underwent a successful procedure at the institute in January to get the device implanted. Known as a brain-computer …
Read More »The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision
Brian Bussard has 25 tiny chips in his brain. They were installed in February 2022 as part of a study testing a wireless device designed to produce rudimentary vision in blind people. Bussard is the first participant. Bussard, who’s 56, lost vision in his left eye at age 17 after …
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