Tech Tok: Neuralink gets approval for human study

Neuralink will be testing its microchips to restore vision and mobility in patients and treat conditions like paralysis and others

Hyderabad: After multiple hiccups along the way, Neuralink, an Elon Musk-backed brain chip firm has announced that they finally received approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to conduct tests on humans.

The company will be testing its microchips to restore vision and mobility in patients and treat conditions like paralysis and others. They hope to do this by linking brains to computers.

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This is how it will work. The chip implanted in a person’s skull will process and transmit neural signals produced in the brain to devices via Bluetooth. For example, a paralyzed person will be able to operate devices like smartphones, just by thinking.

That said, the company has been under the scanner for a long time now. Recently, there were reports of animal abuse by Neuralink where thousands of animals they were experimenting on were reportedly killed. The experiments on humans, however, will take a while as the company has not yet opened registrations for their clinical trial.

The trials will be subjected not just to a strict inspection by FDA, but the experts will also be following it closely.

ISRO launches NVS-01:

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday launched the first of the five satellites that will aid Navigation by Indian Constellation (NavIC). Weighing 2,232 kg, it was launched using a GSLV rocket. This satellite will add to India’s regional navigation system and provide accurate and real-time navigation.

The second-generation satellite has a mission life of over 12 years, which is much longer than the 10-year life of the first-generation ones.

BGMI makes a comeback:

After an announcement that thrilled gamers in the country last week, Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India has finally made its official comeback.

Users are now able to download the BGMI 2.5 from app stores. Following the Indian government regulations, the gaming company has imposed a limited playtime of 3 hours for players aged below 18. For anyone above 18 will, the limit is set to 6 hours.

The latest version also has a new map called Nusa. It is a resort island located in a tropical zone and is said to be the most miniature map in the game. Each match on this map lasts only about 8 minutes. It also has several new features, including a new zipline and elevators. Moreover, the map introduces a super recall feature, new weapons, and new vehicles.

Google rolls out Magic Compose:

Google has started to roll out a new messages feature that will help users write text messages. Called the Magic Compose, it is powered by Bard, the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot.

Magic Compose will help you rephrase your text in styles like the remix, excited, chill, Shakespeare, lyrical, formal, and short. To generate better responses, it will send up to 20 previous messages to Google’s servers even if you are using end-to-end encryption.

Google said that it will be “only used to make suggestions relevant to your conversation.” Although it is available only on Android phones with RCS-enabled US SIM cards as of now, Google hopes to soon enable it to all.

– Epsita Gunti with agency inputs