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China is catching up to the US in brain tech, rivaling firms like Elon Musk's Neuralink

China is catching up to the US in brain tech, rivaling firms like Elon Musk's Neuralink

RNZ News21-07-2025
By
Kristie Lu Stout
and
Fred He
, CNN
The chip of Beinao-1 is about the size of a coin. CNN
Photo:
CNN Newsource
"I want to eat" popped up in Chinese characters on a computer at a public hospital in central Beijing. The words were formed from the thoughts of a 67-year-old woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, who is unable to speak.
The demonstration, captured on video in March by Beijing Radio and Television Station, was part of a clinical trial involving five patients implanted with a coin-sized chip called Beinao-1, a wireless so-called brain computer interface (BCI) - a technology led by scientists in the US, but in which experts say China is quickly catching up.
Luo Minmin, director of the Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) and the chief scientist behind the trial, said there was a "very strong" need for BCI technology, saying they had been "overwhelmed" by requests from potential patients.
"The patients were saying that this feels so great, like they can gain or regain the control of (their) muscles," he told CNN in May during a rare interview at his lab, located an hour's drive away from Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, where the trial took place.
Luo said the technology was showing "high accuracy" in decoding signals from the brains of patients and translating the signals into text speech or machine movements. His team is planning to speed up human trials by implanting chips into 50 to 100 more patients over the next year.
"We are hoping that we can move this process faster," he said. "If it's proven to be safe and effective … it can be used clinically across the world."
Luo Minmin at the Chinese Institute for Brain Research lab, in Beijingon May 28, 2025
Photo:
CNN Newsource
As of May, Beinao-1 says a total of five patients, the same number as Elon Musk's
Neuralink
, has its implants. Another US company Synchron, whose investors include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, has undergone trials with 10 patients, six in the United States and four in Australia.
Maximilian Riesenhuber, a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University who was not involved in the Beinao trials, told CNN that despite starting later than the US, China is making advances.
"China has definitely shown the ability to not just catch up, but also then be competitive, and now actually to start, also to drive the field in some areas," he said. "Excitingly, there's a lot of research activities in both countries, because they've realized the potential in BCI."
According to Precedence Research, a market research firm, the market for brain technology was worth about $2.6 billion last year and is expected to rise to $12.4 billion by 2034. But for both China and the US, this technology is about much more than cash.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has long aimed to turn his country into a science and economic powerhouse. In March, he wrote in state-owned media that the tech industry had become the "forefront" and "main battlefield" of global competition. His ambitions have sparked concern in the US, resulting in an ongoing tech war, particularly in the semiconductor industry.
CIBR was jointly founded by the Beijing municipal government and several local universities in 2018, about two years after Elon Musk founded Neuralink near San Francisco.
In 2023, CIBR incubated a private company named NeuCyber NeuroTech to focus on brain tech products such as Beinao-1. Luo, who is also the startup's chief scientist, gave CNN rare access to the institute in May.
For years, he said, the ALS patient, who is in her 60s, was unable to express herself.
"She's awake, she knows what she wants but she could not speak out," said the scientist, who got his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and spent nearly a decade in the US. "Following the implantation, she can now speak simple sentences quite accurately via the system."
All BCI researchers must address the balance between risk and effectiveness.
Riensenhuber said most American firms use the more invasive method to place chips inside the dura mater, an outer layer of tissue that covers and protects the brain and spinal cord, in order to capture better signal. But these methods require riskier surgeries.
"It is interesting to see that NeuCyber is apparently able to get enough information even through the dura to allow the decoding of specific words," he said.
The test on the ALS patient, which began in March, marked the Beinao-1 chip's third trial in humans. Those trials made up what the developers described in a press release as "the world's first batch of semi-invasive implantation of wireless BCI in human brains." As of May, two more trials have been conducted, for a total of five.
Amid rising geopolitical tensions, comparisons between US and Chinese tech breakthroughs are common. Brain computer interface technology first started in the 1970s in the US.
Decades later, the Obama Administration launched its "Brain Initiative" in 2013, investing more than $3 billion to fund over a thousand neuroscience technology projects since, according to the National Institute of Health.
Synchron, based in New York, was the first firm to start human trials in July 2021. Three years later, a new BCI system developed at UC Davis Health translated the brain signals of an ALS patient into speech, achieving an accuracy of 97% - the most accurate system of its kind, the university said in a statement. The same year, Musk's company
completed its first human trial
, enabling the participant to
control a computer mouse with a brain implant
.
China got its start in brain tech only in the 1990s, but it's advancing fast. In 2014, Chinese scientists introduced the idea of a national project on brain tech to match similar efforts in the US and Europe, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology. Two years later, brain tech was mentioned in the country's five-year plan, which outlines China's national priorities and goals.
"Brain science is new in China," said Lily Lin, a former research assistant at one of China's top neuroscience research units from 2021 to 2023. "So, it started a bit late, but its speed of development has been faster than other countries. And the country has given a lot of funding to many scientific research units, and this funding is increasing every year."
Last year, the government issued its first ethical guidelines for research in this area. At the local level, municipal governments in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities have also offered support for brain technology companies from research and clinical trials to commercialization.
Brain models on display inside the lab of CIBR in Beijing, China on May 28, 2025.
Photo:
CNN Newsource
Riesenhuber and other researchers from Georgetown University published research on China's BCI development in 2024, stating that efforts from Chinese researchers were "comparable in sophistication" to those in the US and the United Kingdom.
"We found China's non-invasive BCI research to be comparable with that of other scientifically advanced nations and to be working to overcome obstacles to greater fidelity, throughput, and wider use," according to the issue brief. "China's invasive BCI research, while historically behind its non-invasive efforts, has picked up the pace and is approaching global standards of sophistication."
Luo, who has worked in both countries, says the US is the "front-runner" in both invasive and non-invasive brain tech. But, comparing Beinao-1 and Neuralink is like looking at "apples and oranges," he added.
The two systems differ not only in implant location but also in the type of brain signals recorded, as well as the method of data transmission. The Chinese chip records a wider range of brain areas, with lower precision for each neuron.
"All in all, I don't think these two products are in a competitive or exclusive relationship," Luo added. "The jury is still out, and we don't know yet which route will ultimately benefit patients better."
- CNN
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What happens if Asteroid YR4 spares Earth, but slams into the moon?
What happens if Asteroid YR4 spares Earth, but slams into the moon?

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timea day ago

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What happens if Asteroid YR4 spares Earth, but slams into the moon?

By Ashley Strickland , CNN An artist's impression depicts an asteroid orbiting the sun. Photo: ESA via CNN Newsource The asteroid known as 2024 YR4 is out of sight yet still very much on scientists' minds. The building-sized object, which initially appeared to be on a potential collision course with Earth, is currently zooming beyond the reach of telescopes on its orbit around the sun. But as scientists wait for it to reappear, its revised trajectory is now drawing attention to another possible target: the moon. Discovered at the end of 2024, the space rock looked at first as if it might hit our planet by December 22, 2032. The chance of that impact changed with every new observation, peaking at 3.1 percent in February - odds that made it the riskiest asteroid ever observed. Ground and space-based telescope observations were crucial in helping astronomers narrow in on 2024 YR4's size and orbit. 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The latest glimpses of YR4 on June 3 before it passed out of view revealed a 4.3 percent chance of a YR4 lunar impact - small but decent enough odds for scientists to consider how such a scenario might play out. Initial calculations suggest the impact has the largest chance of occurring on the near side of the moon - the side we can see from Earth. "YR4 is so faint and small we were able to measure its position with JWST longer than we were able to do it from the ground," Rivkin said, who has been leading the Webb study of YR4. "And that lets us calculate a much more precise orbit for it, so we now have a much better idea of where it will be and won't be." The collision could create a bright flash that would be visible with the naked eye for several seconds, according to Wiegert, lead author of a recent paper submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals analysing the potential lunar impact. The collision could create an impact crater on the moon estimated at one kilometre wide, Wiegert said - about the size of Meteor Crater in Arizona, Rivkin added. It would be the largest impact on the moon in 5000 years and could release up to 100 million kilograms of lunar rocks and dust, according to the modeling in Wiegert's study. Even pieces of debris that are just tens of centimetres in size could present a hazard for any astronauts who may be present on the moon, or any structures they have built for research and habitation, Wiegert said. The moon has no atmosphere, so the debris from the event could be widespread on the lunar surface, he added. On average, the moon is 384,400 kilometres away from Earth, according to NASA. Particles the size of large sand grains, ranging from 0.1 to 10 millimetres in size, of lunar material could reach Earth between a few days and a few months after the asteroid strike because they'll be travelling incredibly fast, creating an intense, eye-catching meteor shower, Wiegert said. "There's absolutely no danger to anyone on the surface," Wiegert said. "We're not expecting large boulders or anything larger than maybe a sugar cube, and our atmosphere will protect us very nicely from that. But they're travelling faster than a speeding bullet, so if they were to hit a satellite, that could cause some damage." Not all lunar debris that reaches the Earth is so small, and it depends on the angle and type of impact to the moon, according to Washington University in St. Louis. Space rocks slamming into the lunar surface over millions of years have resulted in various sizes of lunar meteorites found on Earth. 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The event is unlikely to trigger a Kessler Syndrome scenario in which debris from broken satellites would collide with others to create a domino effect or fall to Earth. Instead, it might be more akin to when a piece of gravel strikes a car windshield at high speed, meaning solar panels or other delicate satellite parts might be damaged, but the satellite will remain in one piece, Wiegert said. While a temporary loss of communication and navigation from satellites would create widespread difficulties on Earth, Wiegert said he believed the potential impact was something for satellite operators, rather than the public, to worry about. Scientists and astronomers around the world were thinking about the possible scenarios since they could not rule out a lunar impact before YR4 disappeared from view, Wiegert said. "We realise that an impact to the moon could be consequential, so what would we do?" de Wit said. A potential planetary defence plan might be clearer if the asteroid were headed straight for Earth. Rivkin helped test one approach in September 2022 as the principal investigator of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which intentionally slammed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. Dimorphos is a moonlet asteroid that orbits a larger parent asteroid known as Didymos. Neither poses a threat to Earth, but the double-asteroid system was a perfect target to test deflection technology because Dimorphos' size is comparable to asteroids that could harm our planet in the event of an impact. The DART mission crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid at 13,645 miles per hour or six kilometres per second to find out whether such a kinetic impact would be enough to change the motion of a celestial object in space. It worked. 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Though defence plans for a potential moon impact still aren't clear, YR4's journey underscores the importance - and the challenges - of tracking objects that are often impossible to see. YR4 was detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS telescope, in Río Hurtado, Chile, two days after the asteroid had already made its closest pass by Earth, hidden by the bright glare of the sun as it approached our planet. The same thing occurred when an asteroid measuring roughly 20 metres across hit the atmosphere and exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, damaging thousands of buildings, according to the European Space Agency. While no one died, about 1,500 people were injured when the windows in homes and businesses blew out due to the shock wave. A vapor cloud trail left by the Chelyabinsk asteroid. Photo: M. Ahmetvaleev/ESA via CNN Newsource Trying to observe asteroids was challenging for many reasons, Rivkin said. 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But upcoming telescopes - including NASA's NEO Surveyor expected to launch by the end of 2027 and the European Space Agency's Near-Earth Object Mission in the InfraRed, or NEOMIR satellite, set for liftoff in the early 2030s - could shrink that blind spot, helping researchers detect asteroids much closer to the sun. "NEOMIR would have detected asteroid 2024 YR4 about a month earlier than ground-based telescopes did," head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office Richard Moissl said in a statement. "This would have given astronomers more time to study the asteroid's trajectory and allowed them to much sooner rule out any chance of Earth impact in 2032." ESA's NEOMIR mission could spot previously unknown asteroids. Photo: Pierre Carril/ESA via CNN Newsource NASA and other space agencies are constantly on the lookout for potentially hazardous asteroids, defined as such based on their distance from Earth and ability to cause significant damage should an impact occur. Asteroids that can't get any closer to our planet than one-twentieth of Earth's distance from the sun are not considered to be potentially hazardous asteroids, according to NASA. When the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in the Andes in Chile, released its first stunning images of the cosmos in June, researchers revealed the discovery of more than 2,100 previously unknown asteroids after seven nights of observations. Of those newly detected space rocks, seven were near-Earth objects. A near-Earth object is an asteroid or comet on an orbit that brings it within about 190 million kilometres of the sun, which means it has the potential to pass near Earth, according to NASA. None of the new ones detected by Rubin were determined to pose a threat to our planet. Rubin would act as a great asteroid hunter, de Wit said, while telescopes such as Webb could be a tracker that follow up on Rubin's discoveries. A proposal by Rivkin and de Wit to use Webb to observe YR4 in the spring of 2026 has just been approved. Webb is the only telescope with a chance of glimpsing the asteroid before 2028. "This newly approved programme will buy decision makers two extra years to prepare - though most likely to relax, as there is an 80 percent chance of ruling out impact - while providing key experience-based lessons for handling future potential impactors to be discovered by Vera Rubin," de Wit said. And because of the twists and turns of YR4's tale thus far, asteroids that have potential to affect the moon could become objects of even more intense study in the future. "If this really is a thing that we only have to worry about every 5,000 years or something, then maybe that's less pressing," Rivkin said. "But even just asking what would we do if we did see something that was going to hit the moon is at least something that we can now start thinking about." - CNN

Women will soon be able to request a female Uber driver in these US cities
Women will soon be able to request a female Uber driver in these US cities

RNZ News

time3 days ago

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Women will soon be able to request a female Uber driver in these US cities

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Tesla's stock is tumbling as Elon Musk fails to shift the narrative
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RNZ News

time4 days ago

  • RNZ News

Tesla's stock is tumbling as Elon Musk fails to shift the narrative

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