Health
Paralyzed man with ALS is third to receive NeuraLink implant, can type with brain
Brad Smith, an Arizona husband and father with ALS, has become the third person to receive Neuralink, the brain implant made by Elon Musk’s company.
He is also the first ALS patient and the first non-verbal person to receive the implant, he shared in a post on X on Sunday.
“I am typing this with my brain. It is my primary communication,” Smith, who was diagnosed in 2020, wrote in the post, which was also shared by Musk. He went on to thank Musk.
Smith is completely paralyzed and relies on a ventilator to breathe. He created a video using the brain-computer interface (BCI) to control the mouse on his MacBook Pro, he stated.
“This is the first video edited with [Neuralink], and maybe the first edited with a BCI,” he said.
“Neuralink has given me freedom, hope and faster communication.”
The video was narrated by Smith’s “old voice,” he said, which was cloned by artificial intelligence from recordings before he lost the use of his voice.
“I want to explain how Neuralink has impacted my life and give you an overview of how it works,” he said.
An Arizona husband and father with ALS has become the third person to receive Neuralink, the brain implant made by Elon Musk’s company. (Getty Images)
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to The ALS Association.
Over time, the disease impairs muscle control until the patient becomes paralyzed. ALS is ultimately fatal, with an average life expectancy of three years, although 10% of patients can survive for 10 years and 5% live 20 years or longer.
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It does not impact cognitive function.
Neuralink, which is about 1.75 inches thick, was implanted in Smith’s motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls body movement.
The implanted device captures neuron firings in the brain and sends a raw signal to the computer.
Neuralink is made by Elon Musk’s company of the same name. (Getty Images)
“AI processes this data on a connected MacBook Pro to decode my intended movements in real time to move the cursor on my screen,” Smith said.
“Neuralink has given me freedom, hope and faster communication,” he added. “It has improved my life so much. I am so happy to be involved in something big that will help many people.”
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Smith is also a man of faith, saying that he believes God has put him in this position to serve others.
“I have not always understood why God afflicted me with ALS, but with time, I am learning to trust His plan for me,” he said.
“God loves me and my family. He has answered our prayers in unexpected ways. He has blessed my kids and our family. So I’m learning to trust that God knows what he is doing.”
The wireless device was implanted in Smith’s motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls body movement. (iStock)
Smith also said he is grateful that he gets to work with the “brilliant people” at Neuralink and do “really interesting work.”
“Don’t get me wrong, ALS still really sucks, but I am talking about the big picture,” he said. “The big picture is, I am happy.”
Dr. Mary Ann Picone, medical director of the MS Center at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, applauded Neuralink’s capabilities.
“This is an amazing development that now the third person to use Neuralink has gained the ability with the use of AI to type with neural thoughts,” Picone, who was not involved in Smith’s care, told Fox News Digital.
“The now-realized potential of Neuralink is to allow patients with quadriplegia to control computers and mobile devices with their thoughts.”
“For every Brad Smith out there, there are hundreds of thousands of other disabled patients awaiting access to this technology,” a neurologist said. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
There are some risks involved with the implant, Picone noted. These include surgical infection, bleeding and damage to the underlying brain tissue.
“But the benefits are that patients who are paralyzed would have the potential to restore personal control over the limbs by using their thoughts,” she said.
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Dr. Peter Konrad, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the department of neurosurgery at WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute in West Virginia, called Neuralink a “remarkable demonstration of the power of AI-driven technology.”
“Mr. Smith is an incredible hero for those who are severely disabled from diseases such as ALS,” Konrad, who also was not involved in Smith’s care, told Fox News Digital.
“Mr. Smith is an incredible hero for those who are severely disabled from diseases such as ALS.”
Konrad also spoke of the advancements that have occurred since the past generations of BCI technology.
“It is encouraging to see faster progress being made with neural devices reaching clinical trials in the past five to 10 years,” he said. “However, we are still awaiting development of a BCI device that does not require a team of engineers and experts to customize each and every severely disabled patient with this technology.”
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“For every Brad Smith out there, there are hundreds of thousands of other disabled patients awaiting access to this technology,” he said.
“This video demonstrates the safety of these types of devices — now it’s time to provide larger access to these devices through a new generation of educated physicians, engineers and manufacturers able to deploy this technology.”
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
BACTERIA IN YOUR MOUTH MAY TRAVEL TO THE GUT AND TRIGGER STOMACH CANCER, RESEARCH FINDS
After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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