Mind implants helped create a digital avatar of a stroke survivor’s face
The information: A lady who misplaced her means to talk after a stroke 18 years in the past was capable of replicate her voice and even convey a restricted vary of facial expressions through a pc avatar. A pair of papers revealed in Nature yesterday about experiments that restored speech to girls through mind implants present simply how rapidly this subject is advancing.
How they did it: Each groups used recording units implanted into the mind to seize the alerts controlling the small actions that present facial expressions. Then they used AI algorithms to decode them into phrases, and a language mannequin to regulate for accuracy. One crew, led by Edward Chang, a neurosurgeon on the College of California, San Francisco, even managed to seize feelings.
The caveats: Researchers warning that these outcomes could not maintain for different individuals, and both means, we’re nonetheless a really great distance from tech that’s accessible to the broader public. Nonetheless, these proofs of idea are vastly thrilling. Learn the total story.
—Cassandra Willyard
How new batteries may assist your EV cost quicker
The information: Chinese language battery large CATL has unveiled a brand new fast-charging battery—one which the corporate says can add as much as 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) of vary in 10 minutes. That’s quicker than nearly all EV charging at the moment, and CATL claims the brand new cells, which it plans to supply commercially by the top of 2023, will “open up an period of EV superfast charging.”
Why it issues: Though EVs are more and more fashionable, drivers might be held again by worries concerning the restricted vary of their batteries, and the necessity to cost for upwards of half an hour. Innovation in battery supplies, if matched with progress in charging infrastructure, may assist mimic the comfort of gas-powered vehicles and encourage adoption of EVs. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart