Surgeries may become safer and more precise than ever before. A new brain implant now lets people control Apple devices, such as iPads, iPhones and the Vision Pro, using only their thoughts. Synchron, an endovascular brain-computer interface (BCI) company based in New York, demonstrated the first wireless BCI that works with Apple's official protocol. Ten patients have received the implant: six in the U.S. and four in Australia. With this technology, users living with severe paralysis can navigate apps, send messages and operate devices hands-free.

If you've never heard colours, you can now do so. Researchers planted tiny electrodes on the surface of the brain of a man paralysed from the neck down. As he imagined writing letters with his hand, the researchers analysed the neural patterns for each letter. They created an algorithm that transformed these neural patterns into words on a screen [Anushree Dave, ScienceNews]. From his brain activity alone, the participant produced 90 characters, or 15 words, per minute, Krishna Shenoy, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University, and colleagues report May 12 in Nature.