The information: Eight years in the past, a affected person misplaced her energy of speech due to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s illness, which causes progressive paralysis. Now, after volunteering to obtain a mind implant, the lady has been in a position to quickly talk phrases at a charge approaching regular speech.
Why it issues: Even in an period of keyboards, thumb-typing, emojis, and web abbreviations, speech stays the quickest type of human-to-human communication. The scientists from Stanford College say their volunteer smashed earlier information by utilizing the brain-reading implant to speak at a charge of 62 phrases a minute, thrice the earlier finest.
What’s subsequent: Though the research has not been formally reviewed, consultants have hailed the outcomes as a major breakthrough. The findings may pave the best way for experimental brain-reading know-how to depart the lab and turn out to be a helpful product quickly. Read the full story.
—Antonio Regalado
Resolving to dwell the 12 months of the Rabbit to the fullest
By Zeyi Yang, China reporter
This previous Sunday was the Lunar New 12 months, crucial vacation for Chinese language and a number of other different Asian cultures. It’s speculated to be a possibility for us to reset and seize new alternatives.
In that spirit, I’ve not too long ago revisited a few of my favourite China-focused MIT Know-how Evaluation tales from the final yr and gone again to the folks I interviewed. I requested them whether or not they’d resolved any troubling challenges, and what they’re hoping for within the 12 months of the Rabbit.