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August 14, 2025—A new brain implant helps read people's thoughts, U.S. outer solar system exploration in jeopardy, and a debate over who was first in flight. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | A pellet of plutonium 238, illuminated by the glow of its own radioactivity. This material is a radioisotope power source for interplanetary missions. Photo Researchers/Science Source | | - The President's proposed 2026 budget would end funding for radioisotope power systems, which make exploration of the outer solar system possible. | 6 min read
- The Wright brothers are famous for making the first powered, controlled flight in 1903. But in 1925 Scientific American editors and the Smithsonian Institution squabbled over who had achieved the feat first. | 9 min listen
- Try out our new game Wordology. Hint for today's puzzle: A two-word name the military used to describe Jeeps in the 1940s.
| | A new brain prosthesis can translate a person's inner thoughts and display them on a screen in real-time, which could help some people with neurological diseases and disorders to communicate. Researchers studied three people with ALS and one with a brain stem stroke, who had sensors previously implanted in their brains. The new interface allowed participants to communicate at a comfortable conversational rate of about 120 to 150 words per minute by just thinking of what they wanted to say. How it works: The new system uses sensors implanted in a part of the brain called the motor cortex, which sends motion commands to the vocal tract. The brain activation detected by these sensors is then fed into a machine-learning model to interpret which brain signals correspond to which sounds for an individual user, explains reporter Emma R. Hasson. It then uses that data to predict which word the user is trying to say. The participants only needed to think of a sentence they wanted to say and it would appear on a screen in real-time. What the experts say: The four research participants are excited about the new technology, says lead author Erin Kunz, a postdoctoral researcher who is developing neural prostheses at Stanford University. "Largely, [there was] a lot of excitement about potentially being able to communicate fast again," she says, adding that one participant was particularly thrilled by his newfound potential to interrupt a conversation—something he couldn't do with the slower pace of an "attempted speech" device, which is similar to the new device but requires people to physically attempt to speak, rather than just think the words. —Andrea Tamayo, newsletter writer | | | | |
Meteorologist Risto Taipale studies the ecosystem-atmosphere interactions of fens, a type of peatland fed by groundwater, in Finland. "The instrument box in this photo contains electronics that gather data on soil temperature, heat flux, water content and water-table depth," he says. Maintaining these systems in such a challenging environment requires "year-round attention to detail," says Taipale, but it is essential to study fens, which cover nearly half of the global peatland area and have high methane emissions. Nature | 3 min read | | As someone who says nearly everything that pops into their head (for better or worse), I can only imagine the thrill the neuro-implant study participants must feel, watching their unspoken thoughts appear instantly on a screen. One of them was especially delighted to regain the ability to interrupt a conversation—proof that this technology isn't just restoring speech, it's restoring personality. Personal expression is one of our deepest human needs, and the urge to share what's in our heads is essential to who we are. And now, for some, that possibility is being brought vividly back to life. | | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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