Brain – Impact Lab

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, brains, Breakthrough Thinking

The Ultrasound Helmet: A Non-Surgical Gateway Into the Deep Brain

September 21, 2025

For centuries, the human brain has been described as the most complex object in the known universe. And while modern neuroscience has mapped countless neural pathways, the deepest regions of the brain—structures like the basal ganglia and the thalamus—remain a stubborn frontier. These areas govern movement, emotion, motivation, and decision-making, yet when they go awry, they spark conditions as devastating as Parkinson’s disease, depression, and essential tremor.

The problem has always been access. To study or influence these deep-brain circuits, medicine has relied on invasive surgery: drilling holes, implanting electrodes, or burning away malfunctioning tissue. These procedures can be life-changing, but they carry enormous risks. What if there were a way to reach the same circuits with no scalpel, no implant, and no irreversible damage?

AI, Brain, Human Behavior, People Making a Difference

What Industries Will Produce the First Trillionaires?

September 19, 2025

by Futurist Thomas Frey

For most of modern history, the title of “richest person in the world” has been associated with billionaires—the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Gates, Bezoses, and Musks of their time. But we are quickly moving into a new era, one where the first trillionaire will emerge. The trillionaire milestone won’t just be about wealth; it will mark a structural shift in how industries generate value at global scale.

So which industries are poised to mint humanity’s first trillionaires? The answer lies in technologies and systems that do more than scale—they transform. These are not incremental plays. They are foundational shifts, unlocking new layers of human productivity and planetary resources.

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, brains

When Silence Speaks: The Future of Thought-to-Speech Implants

September 3, 2025

For decades, the ability to “read minds” was confined to the world of science fiction. Heroes with telepathic powers and villains with sinister mental control lived only in our imagination. But now, a quiet revolution is underway in neuroscience that is pulling this fantasy into reality. At Stanford University, researchers have achieved something extraordinary: a brain implant coupled with artificial intelligence that can translate silent thoughts into words in real time. For people who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis or neurological injury, this is nothing short of a miracle. But for society at large, it raises questions so profound they could reshape the very definition of human privacy.

Biotech, Brain, brain hacking

Breathing Like Everest: Low Oxygen as a Potential Parkinson’s Therapy

August 21, 2025

The summit of human endurance may also hold clues to preserving the brain. Scientists at the Broad Institute and Mass General Brigham have discovered that exposing Parkinson’s disease models to low-oxygen environments—the kind found at Mount Everest base camp—can both protect and restore brain function. The finding challenges one of neuroscience’s long-held assumptions: that oxygen is always good for the brain.

Parkinson’s disease affects more than 10 million people worldwide, eroding motor control as neurons die and toxic protein clumps called Lewy bodies accumulate. Traditional therapies try to address symptoms, but they do little to preserve the neurons themselves. What the Broad-MGH team found is that too much oxygen may be part of the problem. Damaged mitochondria, the energy factories of brain cells, stop using oxygen efficiently, leading to dangerous buildup. This excess oxygen appears to act more like a toxin than a nutrient, fueling the neurodegeneration that underpins Parkinson’s.

3D Printer, Biotech, Brain, brain hacking

3D Printing Blood Vessels to Rethink Stroke Treatment

August 21, 2025

The human brain’s blood vessels are like a complex highway network—narrow, winding, and constantly in motion. When a blockage forms, it’s not just a traffic jam; it’s the beginning of a stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Current medical fixes—like stents, balloons, and surgical bypasses—help clear the jam, but they’re blunt tools that can’t replicate the intricate biology of the brain’s vascular system.

Now, researchers in South Korea have pulled off something extraordinary: they’ve 3D-printed brain blood vessels that can recreate both healthy and diseased blood flow, opening the door to more realistic stroke models and personalized therapies.

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, brains, People Making a Difference

The Silicon Valley Baby Race: Engineering the Next Generation of Geniuses

August 14, 2025

In the glass-walled boardrooms and billion-dollar kitchens of Silicon Valley, a new obsession is taking root—designing children for brilliance. Not just healthy, not just happy, but armed from birth with genetic advantages meant to push them toward the top of the intellectual food chain.

Forget private tutors and coding camps. This is next-level parental ambition: paying tens of thousands of dollars to screen embryos for traits like IQ, or even hiring high-end matchmakers whose client lists look like an Ivy League reunion. The goal? To create children primed for elite universities, cutting-edge problem-solving, and—if you believe the true believers—saving humanity from the very technologies their parents are building.

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, Breakthrough Thinking, Engineering, Medical Breakthrough, People Making a Difference

The Brain’s New Window: How Sound is Taking Us Five Times Deeper into the Mind

August 9, 2025

For years, brain imaging has been like staring through a foggy window—you can make out the surface clearly, but the deeper you try to see, the murkier it gets. Standard light-based microscopes are great for mapping the cortex, but when it comes to peering into deeper, more complex regions like the hippocampus, resolution collapses.

MIT researchers just shattered that barrier with the world’s first sound-powered microscope—a hybrid system that uses ultrafast bursts of light to trigger microscopic sound waves, then “listens” to those waves to build high-resolution images. The result: brain scans at five times the depth of existing methods, with zero dyes, chemicals, or genetic modifications.

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, Breakthrough Thinking

Neuralink Goes Global: Elon Musk’s Brain Chip Heads to the UK for High-Stakes Human Trials

August 4, 2025

The future just got a UK passport.

In a bold expansion beyond U.S. borders, Neuralink—the brain-computer interface (BCI) startup founded by Elon Musk—has launched its first European clinical trial. The UK has become ground zero for testing the next phase of mind-controlled technology, as seven British patients with severe paralysis prepare to have a coin-sized chip implanted directly into their brains.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t a sci-fi plot. It’s happening now.

Working alongside the University College London Hospitals and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, Neuralink is testing whether its N1 chip can allow paralyzed individuals to control digital devices with nothing but thought. Type an email? Open an app? Play a game? All without lifting a finger. For the right patient, this could be a leap from locked-in to logged-on.

Brain, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces

The Molecule That Fights Stroke—and Might Rewrite the Future of Brain Health

July 20, 2025

Imagine a drug that protects your brain six hours after a stroke. Now imagine that same molecule quietly holds the key to reversing Alzheimer’s and other neurological killers—without the usual side effects, without the heartbreak, and without the ticking clock.

That’s the promise behind GAI-17, a small molecular disruptor developed by researchers in Japan that may become one of the most important brain interventions of our time.

And no one saw it coming.

Brain

Breakthrough in Parkinson’s Treatment: Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation Offers Personalized Relief

August 27, 2024

Healthcare professionals have long sought effective ways to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Now, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative, have developed a promising new treatment called adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS). This innovative approach uses an implantable device driven by the patient’s brain activity, potentially revolutionizing the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Known as a “closed loop” system, aDBS aims to improve upon existing deep brain stimulation (DBS) techniques used for Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. The study reveals that aDBS significantly outperforms traditional DBS in controlling Parkinson’s symptoms.

Brain

South Korean Kim Young-hoon Recognized as Highest IQ Holder in History

July 23, 2024

South Korean Kim Young-hoon has been recognized as the individual with the highest IQ in history, scoring an impressive 276 at the World Memory Championships. The announcement was made by the competition’s organizer, the World Mind Sports Council, on Thursday.

“The World Mind Sports Council hereby recognizes Young-hoon Kim from South Korea as the person with the highest IQ in the world and congratulates him,” stated the event organizer.

Previously, the title of the highest IQ holder belonged to Chinese-Australian professor Terence Tao, who has an IQ of 230.

Following the announcement, Kim expressed his aspirations: “I want to research and help improve people’s brainpower around the world using my talents in the future.”

Brain

Pioneering Brain-to-Brain Interaction Enhances Brain-Computer Interface Systems

June 11, 2024

Researchers from Tsinghua University and Imperial College London have introduced a groundbreaking technique that leverages brain-to-brain interactions to enhance brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. This innovative approach, which capitalizes on the power of social connections, shows promise for improving BCI performance in applications such as rehabilitation and multitasking devices.

Dr. Tianyu Jia and their interdisciplinary team investigated the impact of social interactions on BCI performance during motor imagery tasks. The study, involving groups of friends and strangers, aimed to understand how familiar social connections influence neural synchronization and BCI efficiency. Their findings highlight the potential for social engagement to significantly optimize BCI functionality.