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Editor's note
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How much do tech firms know about you? They’ve probably got a good idea about your interests, your relationships, your frequent haunts, your health and your financial status. And that’s gathered just from your smartphone use and internet searches. Now imagine they knew what you were thinking.
Facebook and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are just two of the Silicon Valley firms that want to connect your brain to your devices. Facebook recently made a breakthrough in technology that could allow you to type just by thinking. And Neuralink is hoping to plug you in directly with a brain implant.
Being able to control computers with your mind could provide a productivity boost. How much quicker would you work if you didn’t have to faff about with touch screens and track pads? But you could be giving away a lot more in the process.
Silicon Valley firms have a history of keeping us in the dark about what data they’re extracting from us, who’s accessing it and what they do with it. What starts with instructions to computers could one day include our most personal memories, beliefs and desires. And, writes Garfield Benjamin, the dangers of technology that’s connected to our brains are only set to increase as it advances.
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Stephen Harris
Commissioning + Science Editor
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Top stories
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Image Flow/Shutterstock
Garfield Benjamin, Solent University
Facebook and Neuralink are developing interfaces to link our brains to computers, with serious ethical issues.
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Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Suzanne Wilson, University of Central Lancashire
Children feel lonelier and spend less time outside than ever before. New research is showing how reconnecting children with the community can help.
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Kirsty O'Connor/PA
Christopher Kirkland, York St John University
The Labour leader wants to call a vote of no confidence, form a short-term government and then quickly call an election. Can it be done?
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Politics + Society
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Claire Corkhill, University of Sheffield
Russia appears to have developed a revolutionary mini-reactor able to power a missile.
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Michael Neu, University of Brighton; Robin Dunford, University of Brighton
The NATO-led military intervention in Libya has just fuelled more violence.
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Deana Heath, University of Liverpool
The Peterloo massacre was one of the worst atrocities committed on British soil, but across the empire there were many such acts.
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Environment + Energy
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David Flynn, Heriot-Watt University; Valentin Robu, Heriot-Watt University
The revolution in offshore wind for UK energy supply has begun, but we will need the help of AI and robots to sustain it effectively.
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Science + Technology
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Jared Piazza, Lancaster University; Neil McLatchie, Lancaster University
We could one day adapt to eating the flesh of our own kind - but not until our lives depend on it.
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Health + Medicine
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Grahame Hardie, University of Dundee
AMPK is normally a tumour suppressor. But once cancer arises, AMPK becomes a tumour promoter, enhancing the survival of cancer cells. Understanding this could help create drugs that inhibit AMPK.
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Business + Economy
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Philip Roscoe, University of St Andrews
Hong Kong’s protesters like many Brexiters seek political freedom – but this may come at a heavy price.
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Arts + Culture
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Mark Clague, University of Michigan
Before an exhausted crowd, Hendrix fused protest and horror with patriotism and optimism.
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Featured events
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