The controversial company received FDA approval to conduct human trials earlier this year and recently raised $280m.

Neuralink, the brain-implant company founded by Elon Musk, is looking for candidates to take part in a  human clinical study.

The company claims to have received approval from an ”independent institutional review board” to conduct its first human clinical trials. Nerualink is looking for people who have quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to participate in the six-year study.

The initial goal is to give people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts, by surgically inserting a brain-computer interface. The trial is also being conducted to evaluate the safety of the implant – called N1 – and the company’s surgical robot, R1.

The company said this study represents an important step to create a generalised brain interface that can “restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs”.

“During the study, the R1 Robot will be used to surgically place the N1 Implant’s ultra-fine and flexible threads in a region of the brain that controls movement intention,” Neuralink said in a blogpost. “Once in place, the N1 Implant is cosmetically invisible and is intended to record and transmit brain signals wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention.”

In May, Neuralink received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to run clinical trials on humans, in the form of an investigational device exemption. This allows devices to be used in a clinical study in order to collect “safety and effectiveness data”.

Last month, Neuralink raised $280m in a Series D funding round led by Founders Fund, the VC firm co-founded by billionaire tech investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

A history of controversy

Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Musk along with experts in neuroscience and robotics. The San-Francisco-headquartered company is one of many working to advance the field of brain-computer interface technology.

The company has trialled the technology with pigs and monkeys over the years, with one monkey making headlines when it was shown playing the classic video game Pong with its mind via two N1 Link chips embedded in its brain.

But like many companies associated with Musk, Neuralink has been hit with controversy in the past. The company faced federal investigation in the US for potential animal welfare violations during its trials.

A Reuters report last December based on records and sources with direct knowledge of the company’s animal-testing operations found that Neuralink had killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys.

The investigation followed internal staff complaints around how the company was allegedly rushing its animal testing, resulting in botched experiments. Neuralink denied these claims earlier this year.

In February, the US Department of Transportation said it was investigating Neuralink for potentially moving hazardous pathogens, Reuters reported. An animal welfare group claimed implants removed from the brains of monkeys were being moved in an unsafe way and that these implants could contain infectious diseases.

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Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant company, is hiring a clinical trials director.

Through Sarah McBrideBloomberg

Released on January 20, 2022January 20, 2022

Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink is now hiring a clinical trials director, an indication that the company’s long-standing goal of implanting chips in human brains is getting closer.

The position of principal investigator would oversee the startup’s long-promised human trials of its medical device, according to the listing. Neuralink’s brain implant — which Musk said is already allowing monkeys to play video games with their minds alone — is said to help treat a variety of neurological disorders, including paralysis.

The job description for the Fremont, California position promises that the candidate will work “closely with some of the most innovative physicians and top engineers” as well as “Neuralink’s early clinical trial participants.” It also notes that the job entails “leading and building the team responsible for enabling Neuralink’s clinical research activities,” as well as complying with regulations.

Last month, Musk told The Wall Street Journal that Neuralink hopes to implant his device in human brains sometime in 2022. The device would be in human skulls by the following year.

The first human test that medical device manufacturers must undergo before they can be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is known as the proof of concept. Next, after a submission, review and approval process with the FDA based on the proof of concept, is a pivotal device test.

It’s not clear exactly where Neuralink is in it. Neuralink and FDA officials did not respond to requests for comment. Generally, device manufacturers hire study leaders early in their interaction with the FDA to help design studies to maximize the chances of FDA approval. Neuralink does not appear to have published human studies on clinicaltrials.gov, but publication there may delay enrollment of the first patients.

Last year, another company working on brain-machine interfaces, Synchron, said the FDA had approved their planned proof of concept. Synchron is currently in the recruitment phase, said a spokeswoman.

Neuralink is also applying for a Fremont-based clinical trials coordinator, as well as several other positions.

To contact the author of this story:
Sarah McBride in San Francisco at smcbride24@bloomberg.net

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Ornithologists are skeptical as to whether Bud, an African gray parrot allegedly witnessed a murder in Michigan in 2015, can give reliable testimony or oral testimony in a court case.

It’s not because African gray parrots are not intelligent – birds can be taught to do simple math, speak with enormous vocabulary, and demonstrate impressive conclusions. Rather, it’s unclear whether Bud is repeating a conversation from the murder itself, or whether he heard it on TV, on the radio, or from another time in his life, experts told Live Science.

“We don’t know where this conversation might be coming from,” said Erin Colbert-White, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., Who works with African gray parrots. [Pretty Bird: Images of a Clever Parrot]

Parrot talk

The murder case, which is attracting national attention, involves 45-year-old Martin Duram, who was found dead from five gunshot wounds in May 2015. His wife, Glenna Duram, 48, is a suspect, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The Duram family owned Bud at the time of the murder, but Martin Duram’s ex-wife Christine Keller is now taking care of the parrot. Several weeks after Duram’s death, Keller heard Bud speak in both male and female voices as if he were conversing, the Free Press reported.

The parrot said in a man’s voice, “Get out,” followed by the voice of the woman who said, “Where should I go?” The man’s voice replied, “Don’t shoot,” reported the Free Press.

Keller alerted the prosecutor on the case, who said he was unaware of a precedent allowing a parrot to participate in a trial, but he would be looking into whether Bud could serve as admissible evidence, the Free Press reported.

Star witness?

Bud can no doubt handle words, but experts doubt that this feathered chat can provide reliable testimony or evidence in a trial.

“Basically, it’s about whether a parrot can learn a sentence it has only heard once,” says Irene Pepperberg, research fellow at the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and author of “Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence – and formed a deep connection in the process ”(Collins Publishers, 2008).

The story goes on

“The general answer is ‘no’ because it takes a lot of practice for the bird to reproduce the sounds of the English language,” Pepperberg told Live Science in an email. “A bird may learn a single word quickly, but only if it already has the specific sounds in its repertoire.”

For example, Alex, also a gray parrot, learned the word “carrot” after a training session, but he already knew the words “key” and “parrot”, which probably made it easier to learn the new word, she said. Plus, entire conversations are even harder to learn if you’ve only heard them once, Pepperberg said.

“The only evidence that a stressed bird can learn a sentence once heard comes from [the deceased] Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz, “she said.” His cockatoo was terrified of a chimney sweep and then shouted ‘The sweeper is coming!’ when it saw someone all in black. “

It was possible, “but quite unlikely,” that Bud overheard and repeated the conversation from the murder, said Pepperberg. [The 5 Smartest Non-Primates on the Planet]

Flashbulb memory

In humans, a traumatic event like the Kennedy assassination or 9/11 can strengthen a memory. Some experts call this “flash bulb memory,” said Colbert-White.

It’s unclear if parrots have flash bulb memories, but when they do, Bud perhaps remembered that conversation vividly because it happened right before the murder, she said.

In addition, the Free Press reported that it took the bird several weeks to utter this conversation, “which is actually comparable to parrots adding a new vocalization to their repertoire,” Colbert-White said.

However, the origin of the conversation could remain a mystery, she said.

This isn’t the first time a parrot has helped solve a murder. A man was beaten and killed in Dallas on Christmas Eve 2001. His cockatoo (a species of parrot) attacked the attacker and drew blood that landed on the wall. DNA analysis, along with other clues in the case, helped convict the killer, one of the Texas man’s former employees at his pool company, according to BBC News.

Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a purchasing company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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RANDOLPH, Mass. – When, after a year-long pandemic hiatus, it was finally time to hold trials of 12 people again in this Boston suburb, court officials knew the cramped spaces of their nearly 200-year-old courthouse would not work.

Instead, they built a makeshift courthouse at Lombardo’s Meetings & Occasions, known locally for hosting weddings and graduation parties, with teenagers posing in front of the sparkling three-story chandelier.

“When they announced it, I gasped loudly,” said Denise Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, who attended prom there in 1976. “If someone shows up in a tuxedo with a frilled shirt, I’ll just lose it,” she said.

Huge parts of American life are reopening and legal proceedings are returning, but they look far from normal. Gone are the jury sitting shoulder to shoulder in a packed jury while the lawyers pace a few meters in front of them and argue about their case. Pandemic courts are leaving small, poorly ventilated courtrooms empty and taking over cinemas, exhibition grounds, stadiums, legionary halls, hotel ballrooms, and high school cafeterias.

Massachusetts Trial Court officials at the entrance to the Provisional Norfolk County Court near Lombardo.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to retrial with 12 people in early May as the system is roughly 3,700 cases backlogged. Cases piled up during the pandemic after all lawsuits in Massachusetts were suspended until earlier this year. If a plaintiff filed a case today, Ms. Murphy said, he probably wouldn’t see a jury for four to five years; Before the pandemic, the waiting period was one to three years.

Lombardo’s hosted its first trial on April 7th, a grand jury selection that selects 23 judges from dozens of potential judges. The lobby is now a security checkpoint with metal detectors. The hallway is lined with easels on which the name of the bride and groom was once written, but now visitors are led into the “Jury Pool” or “Courtroom 1” room.

Two of Lombardo’s ballrooms – the Regency and the Embassy – have been converted into courtrooms. Velvet ropes mark the jury boxes. The bars lined with alcohol bottles are discreetly hidden behind gray curtains. The judges’ chambers are located in the wedding suites with bejeweled tissue boxes and vases with artificial flowers.

The main challenge was to find a safe place for prisoners before or after the trial. The answer turned out to be Vincent’s Nightclub in Lombardo’s basement, where three temporary prison cells were set up on the dance floor under a circle of spotlights and a disco ball.

Plexiglass barriers and hand sanitizer in a temporary courtroom.

David Lombardo, the fourth-generation executive and member of the family business, said the facility laid off nearly 150 employees at the start of the pandemic, and he immediately agreed when a court official living nearby brought up the idea. The Massachusetts state court system is paying nearly $ 370,000 to rent the venue for four months.

Mr Lombardo contemplated someone having their prom and wedding and being sentenced to life imprisonment in the same ballroom.

“We are a place for milestone events, even if they are not always positive,” he said. He starts hosting weddings and parties on the weekends.

Lombardo’s is rented from the Massachusetts state court system.

Quincy District Court Chief Justice Mark Coven has conducted two trials against six people in Lombardy. Judge Coven said court officials worked hard to turn the room into a courtroom, including swapping the white tablecloths on attorneys’ tables with black ones so it looked less like they were having dinner.

Judge Coven said he began his trial by asking the jury if they had been to Lombardy and a number of people raised their hands. He told them to forget these memories and make new ones. “After the first 5 minutes … people forget where they are and just focus on their work,” he said.

The morning before his first trial began, he took the liberty of engaging in a Lombard tradition, taking a picture of himself in his judge’s robe in front of the large chandelier and writing it to his friends.

According to court officials, getting the judicial process going again is important, even if it means thinking outside of the jury. There have been dramatically fewer legal proceedings than normal in various jurisdictions over the past year. Some states experimented with certain procedures carried out over the phone or through Zoom and convened large virtual juries. Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to a speedy trial and pressure on the courts to find a way to reopen.

Massachusetts resumed trials with six people in a limited number of courthouses across the state earlier this year because the logistics are less complex. However, 12-person trials are the norm for serious and more complicated civil trials.

Litigation is one of the most challenging pandemic activities. Unlike the grocery store, jurors and witnesses can be legally compelled to appear, adding an extra burden to the courts to protect them. The jury’s selection often brings hundreds of people together in one room.

Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven poses in front of the Lombard chandelier on the morning of his first trial.

Photo:

Quincy District Court

Across the country, court participants are seated at least three feet apart, and everyone generally wears masks except sometimes when speaking. The courts have created a maze of plexiglass barriers, introduced air purifiers and replaced water fountains with hand disinfection stations.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, a court is being held in a mall that closed at the start of the pandemic. Hampden County’s clerk Laura Gentile said the makeshift courtrooms were equipped with enough Plexiglas to host a “junior league.” [hockey] Game.”

The jurors sit on the plush seats of the theater, and judges and lawyers stand at tables in front of the screen. “They took away the popcorn machine, which makes everyone a little angry,” she said.

It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for courts to go on a field trip. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, a court was held outside in Portsmouth Square in San Francisco to prevent the spread of disease.

Paula Hannaford-Agor, director of the Center for Jury Studies at the National Center for State Courts, said stadiums have historically been used for complex cases involving hundreds of lawyers, witnesses and other attendees.

A small function room has been converted into a jury pool room.

In Texas, litigants can request a lawsuit for anything from expediting tickets to divorce cases. During normal times, the Texas state courts hold nearly 200 trials a week.

John Tidwell, a judge at the 202nd District Court in Bowie County, Texas, personally held one of the first post-pandemic trials in a local high school auditorium last summer. The judge and attorneys sat on the stage while the jury watched from the front rows.

“It looked like a high school production of To Kill a Mockingbird,” he said. The soundproofed band hall turned out to be the ideal place for the jury to consult.

Some jurisdictions have attempted a small number of trials against virtual jurors. However, the judges say that Zoom trials present challenges, including ensuring that all jurors have reliable internet access and that the defendants’ constitutional right to face witnesses who testify against them is met.

In Spokane, Washington, the local state court has been conducting trials at the county fairgrounds since February. The fair had left town, but the site was furnished with cavernous exhibition halls perfect for a socially distant legal process.

“We had a lot of interesting conversations: ‘Oh, you are at the exhibition center? Were you able to get a corn dog at lunch? “Said Harold Clarke III. Spokane County Supreme Court Justice.

Social distancing chairs in the judges pool room at Lombardo.

Write to Laura Kusisto and laura.kusisto@wsj.com

Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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