China has a controversial plan for brain-computer interfaces

“More concerning, though, is China’s interest in noninvasive BCIs for the general population. Hannas coauthored a report released in March that examines Chinese research on BCIs for nonmedical purposes. ‘China is not the least bit shy about this,’ he says, referring to ethical guidelines released by the Communist Party in February 2024 that include cognitive enhancement of healthy people as a goal of Chinese BCI research. A translation of the guidelines by CSET says, ‘Nonmedical purposes such as attention modulation, sleep regulation, memory regulation, and exoskeletons for augmentative BCI technologies should be explored and developed to a certain extent, provided there is strict regulation and clear benefit.’” (Wired)

deep tech newsletter
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.

The Canadian underground laboratory SNOLAB has the world’s lowest flux of muons, which are particles formed when cosmic rays reach the Earth’s atmosphere. A recently discovered cause of errors in quantum computers is cosmic radiation. Highly charged particles from space disturb the sensitive qubits and cause them to lose their quantum state, as well as the ability to continue a calculation. But now quantum researchers from Sweden and Canada will join forces to find a solution to the problem—in the world’s deepest located clean room, two kilometers underground. (via Phys.org)

New graffiti-fighting drone being tested in Washington State / Missing satellite found after 25 years of being lost in space / ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ charged in $50M tax fraud / Engineer ‘builds GPU from scratch’ in two weeks / Early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver charged with tax fraud / Judge in Seattle sentences Changpeng Zhao, crypto mogul, to 4 months in prison / Will human soldiers ever trust their robot comrades? / Behold the world’s largest 3D printer / China’s moon atlas is the most detailed ever made / Deepest blue hole in the world discovered. Scientists still haven’t found the bottom / DEA to reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk drug, reports say / Humanoid robots are learning to fall well / The first-ever race between four self-driving cars and a Formula 1 driver just happened in Abu Dhabi A small lathe built in a Japanese prison camp / AI-powered cameras installed on Metro buses to ticket illegally parked cars / NASA lays out how SpaceX will refuel Starships in low-Earth orbit / The California man who hid for 6 months in a secret room inside Circuit City