“If we look at the history of the development of technology, generally every great breakthrough in science or technology has emerged from material innovation. At Gelatex, we’d like to think the next great breakthrough in human technology will come from synthetic biology, expedited by mammalian cell culture. If we can accurately control how cells are growing out and forming tissues, then we can do it in a scalable, cost-effective, reliable manner which opens up so many different opportunities we cannot even imagine.”

“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)