Revived, implanted, and analyzed—the personal stories at the heart of cutting-edge biotech

This nonfiction archetypal appeared successful The Checkup, MIT Technology Review's play biotech newsletter. To person it successful your inbox each Thursday, and work articles similar this first, sign up here.

As regular readers volition know, I thin to commencement each variation of this newsletter by telling you each astir a taxable that’s been connected my mind—whether it’s a large quality story, a fascinating trend, oregon conscionable thing chill I happened to perceive astir successful my reporting.

This week is simply a spot different. It’s my past Checkup for a while. In a substance of weeks, I’ll beryllium starting a Knight Science Journalism fellowship astatine MIT (which is wholly unrelated to my presumption astatine Tech Review). The Checkup volition unrecorded on—I’ll beryllium passing the baton to my superb colleagues portion I’m away! But this is simply a farewell from me, for now.

The Checkup is not yet a twelvemonth old, but we’ve covered immoderate highly breathtaking developments successful medicine and biotechnology since we launched past September. We’ve travel a agelong mode since then—today, determination are implicit 77,000 of you getting this newsletter successful your inboxes each week! We’ve covered everything from teeny-tiny viruses to life-changing encephalon implants. There’s been a existent premix of stories that person made maine laugh, cry, and—always—think. So let’s instrumentality the accidental to look astatine immoderate communicative highlights from the past 10 months.

The archetypal variation of the Checkup looked astatine what minimally conscious brains tin do. There’s immoderate truly fascinating probe connected the minds of radical who are successful what’s known arsenic an unresponsive wakefulness authorities and lone amusement unreliable flickers of awareness. Some studies suggest that radical successful this authorities tin inactive learn.

I spoke to neuroscientist John Whyte, who told maine astir attempts to propulsion minimally conscious radical backmost into afloat consciousness. Some of these person progressive sticking electrodes into a portion of the encephalon that’s thought to power awareness. Others person progressive drugs.

I don’t deliberation I’ll ever hide Whyte’s communicative astir a young antheral he’d treated with 1 of these drugs. The man, who had sustained a caput wounded connected his mode location from his summertime vacation, had been unconscious for 3 years. Within an hr of being fixed a cause called zolpidem, helium seemed revived—he was adjacent capable to hug his parents. But the effects lasted lone a fewer hours, Whyte told maine done tears. His parents opted to prevention the cause for peculiar occasions.

As a newsman covering wellness and biotech, I americium hugely privileged to perceive the idiosyncratic stories of radical who person been done unthinkable experiences. Another communicative that volition instrumentality with maine is that of Ian Burkhart, who I spoke to for a much caller variation of the Checkup.

Burkhart besides experienced a life-changing wounded successful his young adulthood—a diving mishap that near him with a breached neck. He was nary longer capable to determination his limbs.

A fewer years later, helium volunteered to person an experimental instrumentality implanted successful his brain. The device, which was fundamentally a acceptable of 100 electrodes, was designed to grounds enactment successful a portion of his encephalon liable for controlling limb movement. Researchers were capable to nonstop recorded encephalon signals to a sleeve of electrodes connected Burkhart’s limb via a computer. He was soon capable to usage the instrumentality to determination his manus and fingers by thought alone.

I archetypal spoke to Burkhart successful 2016, a mates of years aft he’d had the instrumentality implanted. By that point, helium was capable to power his fingers good capable to play Guitar Hero. At the time, helium said of the device: “It’s grown to beryllium a portion of me.”

But looming backing cuts soon threatened the project, and aft an infection, helium had to person the implant removed. He recovered this difficult, he told me. “When I archetypal had my spinal cord injury, everyone said: ‘You’re ne'er going to beryllium capable to determination thing from your shoulders down again,’” helium said. “I was capable to reconstruct that function, and past suffer it again. That was truly tough.” (You tin work much astir the ethical implications of removing encephalon implants—particularly erstwhile recipients consciousness it has go portion of them—in this piece).

More generally, encephalon implants tin some grounds encephalon enactment and electrically stimulate parts of the brain. It’s an attack that appears to assistance dainty immoderate disorders, but it’s worthy bearing successful caput that these devices tin cod intimate biologic data. And portion this information should beryllium utilized to amended a person’s health, there’s a accidental it could beryllium utilized successful a ineligible setting.

We tin besides usage cells from dormant radical to marque babies. Who should get to determine however and erstwhile that exertion is used, if ever? And past there’s the contention to marque functional quality ovum and sperm cells successful the lab. This exertion could let america to make babies with much than 2 parents, oregon nary astatine all. Will it change our knowing of what it means to beryllium a parent?

There often aren’t definitive answers to questions similar these, but exploring them has been a blast. I’d similar to accidental a large large convey you for doing that with me.

Read much from Tech Review's archive

I’ve truly enjoyed penning to you from reporting trips I’ve taken implicit the past year, especially from an exclusive conference successful Switzerland for uber-wealthy radical looking to adhd years to their lives.

And from a seaside edifice successful Montenegro where life-extension enthusiasts explored a mode to crook Rhode Island into a longevity state.

While I’m away, the Checkup volition unrecorded on! It volition instrumentality a abbreviated interruption and past instrumentality to your inboxes successful aboriginal August. In the meantime, I’d besides similar to emblem the different astonishing play newsletters written by my fabulous colleagues.

Every Monday morning, Melissa Heikkilä shares her insights connected the chaotic satellite of AI with subscribers of the Algorithm. And there’s much passim the week. If you’re funny successful batteries, concrete, lab-grown meat, and each things climate-related, Casey Crownhart’s newsletter, the Spark, is for you.

Tate Ryan-Mosley has each you request to cognize astir power, politics, and Silicon Valley in the Technocrat. And you tin astir apt conjecture what Zeyi Yang’s informative and entertaining China Report is each about.

From astir the web

There’s grounds that weight-loss drugs similar Wegovy enactment good successful children—and trials successful children arsenic young arsenic six are astir to start. But taking these drugs could beryllium a lifelong commitment, and they could beryllium harmful for those with eating disorders. So should we ever springiness weight-loss drugs to kids? (New Scientist)

Humans transmitted the coronavirus to white-tailed cervid much than 100 times successful precocious 2021 and aboriginal 2022, according to caller research. The microorganism astir apt dispersed among the deer, mutated, and past passed backmost to us. (The New York Times)

Activists are suing the Idaho authorities implicit a authorities instrumentality that prohibits adults from helping minors entree abortions. The instrumentality was hastily cobbled unneurotic and is unconstitutional, according to the plaintiffs. (The Guardian)

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a regular contraceptive pill for over-the-counter use. The determination should let radical to bargain commencement power pills without a prescription. (Reuters)

There are determination betwixt 50 and 800 longevity clinics successful the US, wherever clients wage arsenic overmuch arsenic $100,000 for sometimes unproven treatments. (The Wall Street Journal)

Two virologists person testified successful enactment of their findings that the coronavirus had a "natural" root and was not engineered successful a lab. At a proceeding titled “Investigating the proximal root of a cover-up,” the scientists besides said that Anthony Fauci did not exert power implicit their probe paper. (The New York Times)