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DTN 143: Solar Geoengineering Is Getting Serious

Plus: Biology's transformer moment, a novel high-bandwidth BCI, mile-deep nuclear reactor pilot, breathable electronic skin, and more.

— 5 min read

Solar geoengineering startups are getting serious

“Solar geoengineering aims to manipulate the climate by bouncing sunlight back into space. The prospect is a controversial one, to put it lightly. Many have concerns about unintended consequences and uneven benefits. Even public research led by top institutions has faced barriers—one famous Harvard research program was officially canceled last year after years of debate. One of the difficulties of geoengineering is that in theory a single entity, like a startup company, could make decisions that have a widespread effect on the planet. And in the last few years, we’ve seen more interest in geoengineering from the private sector. Now that things are getting more serious, what does it mean for geoengineering, and for the climate?”

MIT Technology Review

“A team from Columbia University, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania has developed a brain–computer interface (BCI) called the Biological Interface System to Cortex (BISC), described in Nature Electronics in a paper titled, “A wireless subdural-contained brain–computer interface with 65,536 electrodes and 1,024 channels.” Image via GEN

“Current BCIs often rely on larger electronics housed in canisters implanted in the skull or chest, tethered by wires to the brain. These designs increase surgical complexity and risk of tissue damage, but there is a trade-off: invasiveness versus quality. “In electrophysiology, a fundamental trade-off exists between the invasiveness of the recording device and the spatiotemporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio characteristics of the acquired neural signals,” the authors wrote.

BISC takes a different approach: a single silicon chip, just 50 μm thick, that can slide into the space between the brain and the skull, resting on the brain like a piece of wet tissue paper. The chip integrates 65,536 electrodes and 1,024 simultaneous recording channels, along with wireless power and data telemetry—all on a single substrate. — GEN

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