Here’s How You Can control iPhone, iPad with Your Brain
New York-based company Synchron is working on a brain-computer interface (BCI) technology with the goal of enabling patients to control digital devices hands-free. It has created a device named ‘Synchron Switch’ for converting the thoughts of people with paralysis into action. It lets patients control an iPhone or iPad using their brains. With this technology, an array of sensors called Stentrode is inserted into the top of the brain via a blood vessel and is controlled wirelessly using the Synchron Switch from the patient’s chest. The company foots the cost of implanting and maintaining the device. Synchron is the first company to gain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to run clinical trials on a computer-brain implant.
As per a report by Semafor, Synchron Switch is being used by six patients. Rodney Gorham, a retired software salesman in Australia, is the first ever to use it with an Apple product. Gorham suffers from ALS and he had the device surgically implanted in his brain at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
As mentioned, Stentrode is implanted into the top of the brain via a blood vessel and it is controlled wirelessly using the Synchron Switch from the patient’s chest. Synchron reportedly pays up the cost of inserting and maintaining the device. The company trains Synchron Switch to recognise the brain signal for a foot tap. The report states that Gorham can control his iPad with his Synchron Switch and can send single-word text messages.
Tom Oxley, Synchron’s co-founder and CEO said that this would be the first brain switch input into the device. Oxley said the skills needed to implant the Stentrode are commonplace, adding that implanting a device directly on the brain would require neurosurgery.
If FDA approves the device for widespread use, Oxley believes that technology like Stentrode will benefit people with disabilities.
Synchron, founded in 2016, is a popular name in the brain-computer interface (BCI) field. As per Pitchbook data, it has around 60 employees and has raised about $65 million (roughly Rs. 538 crore) so far from investors. It received FDA clearance for human trials in 2021 and has completed studies on four people in Australia. Many startups are working to embed devices in skulls, similar to Synchron. Inner Cosmos, Epiminder, and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are the key players in space. Neuralink is yet to receive FDA permission for its implant.
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In a major fillip to Pakistan’s space and disaster management applications, China Thursday launched the first ever Remote Sensing Satellite-1 (PRSS-01) exclusively for Pakistan. The satellite was carried into orbit on a Kuaizhou-1A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province. PRSS-01 was injected into the intended orbit after liftoff, and all systems were declared functioning properly. The satellite will be used to support agriculture and land surveys, urban planning, emergency disaster response, as well as environmental monitoring scans for the country, and marks a new beginning in Pakistan’s ambitions of a space program. It also highlights persistent cooperation between China and Pakistan in technology associated with space science, as well as earth observation.
Earth Observation and Disaster Management
According to the official website, PRSS-01 is equipped with high-resolution imaging systems capable of providing detailed data across a wide range of civilian and governmental uses. Its uses consist of national land survey, urban planning, and real-time environmental monitoring. Crucially, it increases Pakistan’s ability to respond rapidly and efficiently when natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes occur. It is anticipated that the technology will be valuable in long-term infrastructure planning and will promote smarter, sustainable development across the country.
Strengthening Bilateral Space Cooperation
The PRSS-01 launch indicates that the strategic cooperation between China and Pakistan is deepening, in aerospace technology as well. Engineers from the two countries worked closely together throughout the development and launch processes, including substantial technological support from China. The mission will continue the spirit of collaboration evident in satellite communications and scientific payloads between China, Pakistan, and Algeria, strengthening confidence among partners.
The successful launch of PRSS-01 is not only a great leap for Pakistan in promoting national development, but also an important step towards China’s deepening cooperation with countries along the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) and its aerospace industry transforming from being big to strong. With the launch of PRSS-01, industry expects a new era in improved satellite services for Pakistan.
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The concept of a large, hidden planet or planets lurking in the most distant regions of our solar system has been known since before Pluto’s discovery on 1930s. Originally named “Planet X,” it had been proposed to account for irregularities in Uranus’s orbit. That mystery was eventually resolved by recalculating Neptune’s mass. But in 2016, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown resurrected the puzzle with a new idea — Planet Nine — which was based on the bizarre orbits of distant Kuiper Belt objects. The explanation is that a huge planet far away is gravitationally pulling on these objects.
The Case for Planet Nine
According to Batygin and Brown’s observation, many of the Kuiper Belt objects don’t travel on orbits as expected. This suggests that, like the Moon (whose outward spiral from Earth is due to earth’s gravity), these distant objects are somehow being perturbed by something other than our Sun. The hypothesised Planet Nine is believed to be several times the size of Earth and orbiting out beyond Neptune. Supporting evidence are the discovery of recently detected trans-Neptunian-object with elliptical-orbits (such as 2017 OF201 ) which could have been sculpted by a massive planet.
In 2024, Brown reaffirmed confidence in the theory, stating, “There are currently no other explanations for the effects that we see.” More trans-Neptunian discoveries keep pointing toward an unknown gravitational force.
Challenges and New Clues
However, the theory faces hurdles. Other astronomers contend that there is not enough data on the Kuiper Belt to warrant a Planet Nine. Others suggest alternative explanations, such as a debris ring or even something more exotic like a small black hole. One is reduced observing time; tens of thousands of years are required for these objects so far from our planet to orbit.
Recent finds, such as the sednoid 2023 KQ14 — so elongated that it looks stable in an empty solar system — complicate the scenario even more. If Planet Nine is out there, it could be at least 500 AU away from the Sun. In the meantime, astronomers are continuing to search those huge, remote edges of our solar system using ground- and space-based telescopes.
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