Pat Bennett, 68, once rode horses as an equestrian, jogged daily and worked in human resources, until a rare illness robbed her of her ability to speak in 2012. But help is on the way thanks to four baby-aspirin-sized sensors implanted in her brain, part of a clinical trial at Stanford University. The chips have helped Bennett communicate her thoughts directly from her mind to a computer monitor at a record-breaking 62 words per minute -- over three times faster than the technology's previous best. Cognitive scientists and medical researchers outside Stanford are impressed as well. One, Professor Philip Sabes at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies brain-machine interfaces and co-founded Elon Musk's Neuralink, described the new study as a'big breakthrough.'