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An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScientificAmerican: After a brain stem stroke left him almost entirely paralyzed in the 1990s, French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote a book about his experiences -- letter by letter, blinking his left eye in response to a helper who repeatedly recited the alphabet. Today people with similar conditions often have far more communication options. Some devices, for example, track eye movements or other small muscle twitches to let users select words from a screen. And on the cutting edge of this field, neuroscientists have more recently developed brain implants that can turn neural signals directly into whole words. These brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) largely require users to physically attempt to speak, however -- and that can be a slow and tiring process. But now a new development in neural prosthetics changes that, allowing users to communicate by simply thinking what they want to say. The new system relies on much of the same technology as the more common "attempted speech" devices. Both use sensors implanted in a part of the brain called the motor cortex, which sends motion commands to the vocal tract. The brain activation detected by these sensors is then fed into a machine-learning model to interpret which brain signals correspond to which sounds for an individual user. It then uses those data to predict which word the user is attempting to say. But the motor cortex doesn't only light up when we attempt to speak; it's also involved, to a lesser extent, in imagined speech. The researchers took advantage of this to develop their "inner speech" decoding device and published the results on Thursday in Cell. The team studied three people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and one with a brain stem stroke, all of whom had previously had the sensors implanted. Using this new "inner speech" system, the participants needed only to think a sentence they wanted to say and it would appear on a screen in real time. While previous inner speech decoders were limited to only a handful of words, the new device allowed participants to draw from a dictionary of 125,000 words. To help keep private thoughts private, the researchers implemented a code phrase "chitty chitty bang bang" that participants could use to prompt the BCI to start or stop transcribing.

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Julia Cassidy, a dietitian and eating disorder specialist, says that demonizing certain foods can lead to an unhealthy relationship with eating.

In recent months, the cathedral and its grounds have been overrun with petty criminals pushing a range of Class A drugs - including cocaine, heroin and the synthetic drug known as 'spice'.

The Former Secretary of State made the statement in a podcast appearance ahead of Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Sam Altman's brain-chip venture is exploring the idea of genetically altering brain cells to make better implants. "The company, which has been referred to as Merge Labs, is looking at an approach involving gene therapy that would modify brain cells," reports Bloomberg. "In addition, an ultrasound device would be implanted in the head that could detect and modulate activity in the modified cells." From the report: It's one of a handful of ideas and technologies the company has been exploring, they said. The venture is still in early stages and could evolve significantly. "We have not done that deal yet," Altman told journalists at a dinner Thursday in San Francisco, referring to a question about a brain-computer interface venture. "I would like us to." Altman said he wants to be able to think something and have ChatGPT respond to it. [...] For years, researchers have been studying how to genetically change cells to make them respond to ultrasound, a field called sonogenetics. The idea Merge is considering to combine ultrasound with gene therapy could take years, some of the people said. Ultrasound has attracted significant attention recently as a possible brain therapy. Other companies are exploring the idea of using ultrasound transmitters outside the brain to massage brain tissue, with the goal of treating psychiatric conditions. That kind of technology has shown promise in research studies.

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President Donald Trump made an unusual gesture by inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to ride along with him in the Beast, the presidential limo.

The moment occurred after Putin and Donald Trump greeted each other in Alaska .

South Korean authorities have arrested the operator of Yubin Archive, a Telegram-based "pirate library" that grew to over 330,000 members by sharing textbooks, workbooks, lectures, and exam prep materials under the banner of "eliminating educational inequality." TorrentFreak reports: An official statement confirming the operator's arrest was published locally on August 12. The timeline suggests the arrest probably took place on or around August 9. The following notice appeared on Yubin Archive on August 11. "The Ministry of Culture and Sports' Copyright Crime Science Investigation Team used digital science investigation (forensics) and various investigation methods to identify the core operator, conduct simultaneous search and seizure at their homes, and fully secure the Telegram criminal activities," the Ministry's statement reads. "Investigations into accomplices who participated in the operation are also underway." While copyright infringement at scale is almost always a crime, regardless of content type or claimed good intention, having a Robin Hood character in the mix risks dilution of key anti-piracy messaging. No surprise then that much is being made of the existence of a 'minority room' within Yubin Archive, access to which was only permitted upon payment of a fee. "The core operator of the 'Yubin Archive', who was arrested, was found to have created a separate paid sharing channel (also known as a minority channel) while promoting the illegal sharing of learning materials as a noble act to eliminate educational inequality," the Ministry notes. "In addition, the illegal sharing channel was a criminal act that could instill incorrect copyright awareness in most users, including teenagers. The Ministry of Culture and Sports is committed to continuing its efforts to track and strictly respond to illegal activities that abuse anonymous channels such as Telegram, to protect the rights of creators."

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Contestants from noughties weight loss show The Biggest Loser have opened up about some of the extreme measures they took to shed the pounds in a new documentary on Netflix.

The disgraced daughter of the Covid hero Captain Tom has revealed plans to write 10 more books despite the backlash over her 'money-grabbing' memoir.

The cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2025 were seen for the first time since the full line-up was announced as they headed for rehearsals on Friday.

Best of all - it's pretty affordable too

Reflecting on making his half century, Leonardo DiCaprio tells Esquire magazine he doesn't feel 50 but 32.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

The Duchess of Sussex 's series With Love, Meghan provoked much mockery among British Netflix viewers.

As always, it was an absolute honour to be in the Queen's presence, but you never knew what was going to happen next.

The Netflix series saw 30 singles enter the pods in search of a spouse, but Patrick quickly grabbed attention with his unusual dating approach.

The future of a European democracy was being determined in Alaska last night without the presence of either that democracy or its European allies.

Not so long ago, dishevelled pictures like these would have been career suicide for Phillip Schofield. But today they represent something else entirely: his freedom.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin appeared to agree to 'help' each other strike a deal as they met in person for the first time in six years.