Brain software update… Elon Musk’s controversial Neuralink has been seeking a person with quadriplegia to be its first human volunteer to receive a brain implant. The goal: allow people with paralysis to communicate by using a cursor or keyboard with their mind. Rival Synchron has implanted chips into 10 patients, and startups including Precision Neuroscience and Motif Neurotech have tested less-invasive alts. Eventually, the tech could help with conditions like dementia and depression. While Neuralink said it plans to perform 22K surgeries by 2030, experts say it could take at least a decade to get approval for commercial use.
US high-speed rail leaves the station… The US is woefully behind on high-speed rail (imagine: cruising at 220 mph), but American trains could pick up steam. Brightline West, a high-speed line connecting LA to Vegas in 2 hours, should start zooming before the 2028 LA Olympics. A section of a publicly funded project linking LA and SF is set to wrap by 2033. Amtrak proposed a 90-minute Dallas-Houston line and is evaluating more city pairings. Other futuristic transpo concepts like hyperloop are way off track (last month, Richard Branson’s Hyperloop One shut down).
Petri poultry hits plates… Last year the US became the second country after Singapore to approve the sale of lab-grown meat, but it could take a long time for cultivated chicken to go mainstream. Cell-grown meat is slaughter-free and has been touted as a way to reduce emissions, but current production ain’t cheap (cultured beef costs $17/lb). Plus, it could take a while for consumers to overcome the “ick” factor (Italy banned the meat last year). But if lab-grown startups can scale production and nail the marketing, it might fly. The industry was worth ~$250M in 2022 and is projected to hit $25B by 2030.