#Brain Computer Interface

Synchron has paused participant recruitment for the second-generation clinical trials of its Stentrode brain implant due to a connecting cable malfunction. The company plans to upgrade its hardware system before continuing the research.

Neuralink showed that the N1 implant allows a patient with severe speech impairments to mentally launch the Grok AI agent, type on an iPhone, and call loved ones using a synthesized voice. The features were fine-tuned within the VOICE study, but remain experimental and are not FDA-approved.

Neuralink demonstrated an implant update allowing a patient with severe speech impairments to make iPhone calls and launch the Grok AI agent by thought alone. The system detects speech intent automatically, and the listener hears a synthesized voice.

During trials of the VOICE program, Neuralink for the first time converted the brain signals of an ALS patient into a natural voice using AI. The program received Breakthrough Device status from the FDA, and the target speech rate is 140 words per minute.

Researchers at Rice University learned to remotely control the behavior of Drosophila by heating nanoparticles in their brains with a magnetic field. The work, published in Nature Materials, paves the way for wireless neurointerfaces.