World’s Smallest Pacemaker Fits in a Syringe

“Engineers at Illinois’ Northwestern University have developed the tiniest pacemaker you’ll ever see. It’s several times smaller than a regular pacemaker, and it’s designed for patients several times smaller than the average pacemaker user.

This device is dwarfed by a grain of rice, and can be injected into newborn babies with congenital heart diseases for temporary or long-term use with a regular syringe. About one in every 100 children are born with such defects…

Beyond its size, what’s great about this design is that, since there’s no surgery involved in installing or removing the pacemaker, there’s no risk of infections and internal bleeding from these procedures. It’s also made from biocompatible components – so it can dissolve into the body’s fluids when it’s no longer needed.

The pacemaker also has a light-activated switch, and this is paired with a small heart rate sensor that the patient wears on their chest. When the latter detects the patient’s heart slowing below a certain rate, it automatically flashes a built-in infrared LED on and off in time with a normal heart rate to penetrate through the body and activate the pacemaker.”

https://humanprogress.org/worlds-smallest-pacemaker-fits-in-a-syringe-and-is-activated-by-light/

Brain-to-Voice Neuroprosthesis Restores Naturalistic Speech

“Marking a breakthrough in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), a team of researchers from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco has unlocked a way to restore naturalistic speech for people with severe paralysis.

This work solves the long-standing challenge of latency in speech neuroprostheses, the time lag between when a subject attempts to speak and when sound is produced. Using recent advances in artificial intelligence-based modeling, the researchers developed a streaming method that synthesizes brain signals into audible speech in near-real time…

According to study co-lead author Cheol Jun Cho, who is also a UC Berkeley Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and computer sciences, the neuroprosthesis works by sampling neural data from the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls speech production, then uses AI to decode brain function into speech.”

https://humanprogress.org/brain-to-voice-neuroprosthesis-restores-naturalistic-speech/

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the Economy

https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/federal-reserve-chair-jerome-powell-on-the-economy/658158