Brain tech breakthrough restores ALS patient’s ability to speak

Casey Harrell and observers react as a brain-computer interface system works on the first attempt, in this handout undated picture obtained by Reuters on August 14, 2024. — UC Davis Health/University of California Regents/Handout via Reuters

Last August, Casey Harrell spoke the first clear words his five-year-old daughter could remember hearing him say, a repeat of his wedding vows to her mother, Levana Saxon. The adults in the room cried.

The moment was possible thanks to a wave of innovation in one of the most challenging areas of medicine: reconnecting the brain to the body once something – an accident or an illness – has severed the ties. While Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp gets most of the attention and investor money in the space, academic labs and rival startups are notching significant advances in repairing that broken bond.