First patient of Elon Musk's Neuralink implant suffered life-threatening condition during surgery that later caused brain chip to malfunction, report claims

Neuralink's first human trial nearly came to an end after the patients endured a potentially life-threatening condition shortly after the implantation surgery. A new report has claimed that air became trapped inside Nolan Arbaugh's skull during the operation, a condition known as pneumocephalus that can cause seizures, brain abscess and death if untreated. The incident reportedly raised concerns among staff who discussed removing the brain implant entirely - but the issue does not appear to be impacting Arbaugh's health. However, it may have caused the brain chip to malfunction, which Neuralink said Wednesday happened when some of the 64 threads that attach the chip to the brain retracted - resulting in a decrease in the number of effective nodes. Neuralink's first human trial nearly came to an end after the patients endured a potentially life-threatening condition shortly after the implantation surgery.