🧠 Neurolink patient plays chess, Nuclear space engine, 'Car copter'

Just roughly a year after receiving approval for human trials, Elon Musk’s Neuralink has achieved another remarkable milestone. In a recent demonstration, a patient implanted with Neuralink’s brain-computer interface (BCI) technology was able to control a computer and play video games using only their thoughts.

Elon Musk shared the news on X, describing the first human to receive Neurolink as ‘recovering well.’ For more on this story, head over to today's Must Read.

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MUST READ

🧠 Watch: Musk shares Neuralink’s “telepathy” breakthrough in human trials

Musk recently re-shared a livestream video showcasing telepathy in action. During the livestream, Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old paralyzed patient involved in the trials, navigates an electronic chess game played on a large screen. He did this using only the power of his mind.

The video starts with a Neuralink engineer introducing himself and Arbaugh as one of the first human users of the brain-computer interface device. The engineer funnily introduces Arbaugh as his only telekinetic friend.

Arbaugh, who became paraplegic after a diving accident, describes the technology as transformative. Neuralink’s mission is to provide groundbreaking solutions for those with unmet medical needs – a goal that now appears closer than ever.

🚀 China tests nuclear-powered ‘shrinkable’ engine for Mars spaceship

Chinese scientists have allegedly developed a new 1.5-megawatt (MW) “shrinkable” fission reactor. They claim the new reactor could enable China to build a nuclear-powered spaceship, potentially for a trip to Mars and back.

The new lithium-cooled reactor is designed to expand from a container-sized volume into a structure as large as a 20-story building to power a spaceship. What’s more, this could help China build a rival to SpaceX’s much-vaunted Starship.

According to the researchers, a nuclear-powered spacecraft could complete a round trip from Earth to Mars in just three months. In contrast, spacecraft relying on fossil fuels, such as SpaceX’s Starship, could take at least seven months to reach Mars.

🚁 Indian man builds ‘car copter,’ attached helicopter rotor blade to car roof

A man from the state of Uttar Pradesh in India acted on a decision to customize his family car–the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R to look like a helicopter. He called it a “car copter.”

Acting on a dream of having a car resembling the concept of a helicopter, the man– Ishwar Deen– welded a helicopter’s rotor blade onto the car’s roof, then attached the tail boom to the boot of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, the police seized the ‘car copter’ during a traffic stop when the maker was taking his creation to a workshop to get it painted. Deen was fined Rs 2,000 (US$ 24.07) under the charge of violating motor rules, launching an investigation into the situation.

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IE QUIZ: THE RESULTS

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The answer is: B

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