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 a wonder material, it won … Read more
One afternoon I was using the device for a little over an hour when I heard a voice in the headset: “You’ve earned a brain break.” Alcaide says the device can detect when your focus is starting to decline and that this feature is meant to help people avoid burnout. “We can tell you when … Read more
“It’s pretty exciting and freeing to keep my independence,” Mark says. “Some days can be more challenging, especially depending how I’m feeling, but the layout of the Amazon tablet makes it pretty easy to interact with and complete the tasks I need to.” Amazon declined to respond to a request for comment. Synchron has also … Read more
WIRED: This year, Tether has moved to diversify its business model with a push into venture capital. Tell me about the rationale. Ardoino: Tether has become extremely profitable in the last two years thanks to the increase in interest rates. When Tether started, you could make 0.2 percent on the reserve, but today you can … Read more
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 the device to avoid problems … Read more
Rather than building a device from the ground up, Synchron and Paradromics have taken inspiration from previous medical devices. Paradromics’ design, for instance, is based on the Utah array but makes some key improvements. It’s wireless, for one, and it has 421 electrodes on the end of tiny wires that sit in the brain tissue. … Read more
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 robotic arm and grasp a … Read more
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 interface, or BCI, the technology … Read more
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 his retina detached. The right … Read more
As a designer, what safety considerations did you have to think about with the Neuralink device? The primary safety considerations weren’t so much on the device but on the robot. We had a small role to play, which was to psychologically transform their first-generation robot, which was exposed steel—you could argue it looked pretty ominous—to … Read more
