Neuralinks

US lawmakers will ask regulators to investigate whether the make-up of a panel overseeing animal testing at Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink contributed to botched and rushed experiments.US House Representatives Earl Francis Blumenauer and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, have signed a draft letter to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting a probe into how Neuralink oversaw its experiments, Blumenauer's office said.The lawmakers have shared the draft with peers to gather more signatures and plan to send it…

Neuralink’s efforts to bring a brain-computer interface still have a way to go. According to a new report from Reuters, Elon Musk’s startup was apparently denied authorization by the FDA in 2022 to conduct human trials using the same devices that, well, killed 1,500 animals. Those tests, according to internal reports, lead to needless suffering and death of test subjects. Current and former Neuralink employees told Reuters: "The agency’s major safety concerns involved the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the…

Despite the repeated and audacious claims by its sometimes CEO, Elon Musk, the prospects of brain-computer interface (BCI) startup Neuralink bringing a product to market remain distant, according to a new report from Reuters. The BCI company was apparently denied authorization by the FDA in 2022 to conduct human trials using the same devices that killed all those pigs — namely on account of; pig killing. "The agency’s major safety concerns involved the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant’s tiny wires…

Neuralink, a company co-founded by Elon Musk, has been working on an implantable brain–machine interface since 2016. While it previously demonstrated its progress by showing a Macaque monkey controlling the cursor in a game of Pong, it has yet to start human trials. Now, according to Reuters, Musk has reached out to rival company Synchron in recent weeks to discuss a potential investment.  It's unclear what kind of deal Musk has offered — whether it's a collaboration or a financial investment —since none of the players…