The US military has been working on mind-reading devices for years. The goal is to create technology that could help people with brain or nervous system injuries, as well as allow soldiers to control drones and other devices with just their minds, Paul Tallis reported in 2019.
Several tech-rich millionaires have launched projects to connect human brains to computers, read our minds, communicate, or strengthen our brains. In 2017, Antonio Regalado spoke with entrepreneur Brian Johnson about his plan to create a neural prosthesis to enhance human intelligence. (Since then, Johnson has made an effort to keep her body as youthful as possible.)
We can shock the brain with headbands and caps, devices generally considered noninvasive. But as they explore our minds and change the way we work, we may need to reconsider how common they are, as I wrote in a previous issue of Check.
Elon Musk's company, Neuralink, says it plans to create "a whole-brain interface that can more closely link biological and artificial intelligence." Antonio described the progress made by the company and its competitors in a report published in an issue of Informatica magazine.
When a man with an epilepsy electrode implanted in his brain was accused of assaulting a police officer, law enforcement agencies demanded to see the brain data collected by the device. The data has been published; then the man had a seizure. But brain data can also be used to blame someone else, as I wrote in a recent issue of The Checkup.
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How about letters from your doctor written by AI? A pilot study found that "ChatGPT can generate clinical letters with high overall scores of correctness and humanity." (Digital Health Hand)
When Meredith Broussard learned her hospital was using AI to diagnose breast cancer, she thought about how the technology compares to human doctors. Not a big deal, it turned out. (Cable)
A Texas federal judge is being subpoenaed to block the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone, one of two abortifacient drugs. A decision against the FDA would reduce the agency's powers and "could spell public health disaster." (Washington Post)
The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed regulations that limit the levels of six "persistent chemicals" in drinking water. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals that have been used to make food since the 1950s, but are very slow to break down and are found in the environment worldwide as well as in the blood of humans and animals . . We still don't know how harmful they are. (Monkey)
Would you pay thousands of dollars to have your jaw broken and made you look like Batman? Another worrying cosmetic trend is surgery. (GQ)
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