for the forest fires or things such as here in british columbia. but in greece and nova scotia and united states, uh, it just devastating fires that are clearly linked to. so human cause climate change experts say the fires themselves are making global warming worse. when fires burn it burns carbon in the trees and in the soil and release is carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. that increase concentration of, of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere creates the more extreme droughts and makes the changes to our fire seasons which trigger more fires which release more greenhouse gases. so you can see how this creates a positive feedback loop. burn forest and holes are a disaster for people who live here, but they're also a sign that our planet is changing rapidly, with consequences for everyone everywhere. rob reynolds, l g 0, colona, british columbia.

the hello again. i'm elizabeth toronto, mendo hall with the top stories on the algebra versus most powerful messen way of getting to goshen is reported to have been killed in a plane crash. the criminal has yet to confirm his death. devotion was listed among 10 people on the jet that crashed jewels of moscow. leaders of the brook salons of nations have invited 6 countries to join the economic block. south african president sit around the post and made the announcement on the final day of the annual summit. and just had us book we have decided to invite the engine team republic the rep republic of egypt. the fed, the democratic republic of if your po, the, is law, make public or on the kingdom of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates to become full members of briggs. the membership

will take effect from the 1st of june. now, while they turn to $24.00, japan has begun releasing radioactive also finance for pushing the nuclear power plant on to the pacific ocean. china has band and pulse of japanese sea food and response corps and the plan, selfish and irresponsible fall sizes increase of greenbacks and walls fires. for 6 days, high winds have re ignited some 5 which were under control, and athens supplies destroyed several homes and cause issues of issued dozens of evacuation orders for villages this week. and 8 republicans hoping to be the next us president to help assist to base the fund trunel informing us president donald trump. washington milwaukee is due surrender. and george relates as a face, racketeering and conspiracy charges. those other headlines on august the or do stay with us. the stream is coming up next. a huge reserves of lucio used

an electric battery, some fine to for reducing over reliance on fossil fuels. fly, be nice. can fast ideas. so place a unique ecosystem. the condition is communities are desperate to protect from a mining people empower asks, is it possible to extract the metal without causing an environmental catastrophe? argentina's white goals on that just the high. i'm sending you. okay. you're going to saw this episode with the stream by meeting eric, so eric received a gunshot wound, which made him have a life minute that he could actually use his arms. and what you're about to see is an implant going into his brain. look right now. if you don't like the side of platinum, ok hope you have foss without one. what the impact will allow him to do is to

connect with a robot. and so now eric, who couldn't use his arms and his hands is now able to access a row board, which will pick up cops these things around for him. do what he's working on? wasn't able to do. so. the 1st time you searching is eric katrinka, based on assisted so researches of native as the southern california shed. this video, this is back in 2015. so this is not new technology, but the technology is getting so much bye to. so today's episode, what does the future hold for brain employment technology? i know you have questions. i have tons of questions for you. questions or thoughts right here. be part of today's show. hello, catching karen and as i get to have you on board, i'm going to ask you to very briefly into lines,

introduce yourself to audience and explain your expertise in this a brand new implant technology field. got t stats. hi benny i everyone. well, i am uh, curt hagstrom, i'm with sync on in sync cards, a company that's developing a bring computer interface technology. i'm a bi medical bitrate, by vertical engineer, by trade and over uh, over the last 20 years, been delivering class 3 medical devices to the, the narrow vascular market. so i'm excited to be here and have that conversation. get to have you welcome carol. please say hello to have you as around the world. tell them who are you out, what you day? hi, i'm karen ramos anger and i'm a no tech assistant strategies. and i am trained as a narrow scientist and ran a narrow ethics institute for awhile and i've recently found it, and now i've explained can do tank and run a boutique there until we get to have you on board. hello and welcome to the screen please. the green, our view is around the well, tell them who you are and what you day. hi everyone. my name is anna wexler. i'm

a professor of medical ethics at the university of pennsylvania. and i run a research lab that studies the ethical league. busy and social implications of advances in or a science. all right, so i guess i think the biggest challenge is separating ourselves from science, fat and science fiction. we have watched the movies with the side books type of somebody has a brain implant imparting the head and then they go wild at everything goes upside down at its tail take. this is not what we're talking about. what we're talking about is brain computer interface or b, c, i tyron briefly in an accessible way. what does that mean? a great, thanks for asking. so a brand computer interface is really a communication device that connects the brain to an external computer. and there's 2 ways that that communication can happen. so one way is that the computer can

sense electrical activity and send that to a prosthetic device. so an example you gave, so if someone could re compare who otherwise would be able to or the device can work the other way, where can said signals for electrical activity into the brain to help the brain function better. i want to bring into a car. yeah, interesting what you'll doing at sink from which is trying to develop this technology so it can help people who have medical needs, physical needs. i am going to show a few people who are chatting and this is the video that you shared with us. so tell us what is happening here and why it is special that's taken up. absolutely. right. so this is an australia. and what are we saying, hey, what are we looking at? yeah, so this is, this is one of our 1st patients in australia during the switched trial. and these patients are actually able to move the use a digital environment. right now, you're seeing an interface on the computer. and these actions are all crated with

the motor intent that they've created when their brain and this is all being signaled with a motor and normal prospect called the sink on switch system. and so reads that motor intent. it's almost if they had their fingers. so it's the motor intent of being able to touch and move this along the computer screen story, but them read the motor intent and then it's communicated out via infrared technology to a computer. and so the individual right there was, uh, so happy to be able to sit there and be able to communicate on that computer for the 1st time and then tell his wife that he, he loved her, which was with oh, all right, just from that standpoint. so in that instance, they were use it before that communication piece. but these technologies go well beyond if any communication i think from a utility once you be able to control that digital environment. as you can imagine, that goes to an iphone, we had our 1st patient about a month ago, control an iphone, uh, functionality. and so when you can do that,

um it goes off just to the communication, stay with the caregiver, but then you could do online shopping, you could communicate, you know, you could use social media, you can control your smart environment potentially. and so i think there's a lot of utility with what this concept of the motor neural prospect. and i think that's the big changes where it jumps from me, from science fiction. yeah. and you know, the, the sideboards to an actual medical device, and that's where, you know, were governed by the, you know, the regulatory bodies of, of the various countries in the f da here in the us. and so again, we follow the rules of the, the, you know, across 3 medical device and, and again, we're on a phase of where we were a research phase. now we're in that clinical phase, in, in, in the future, the commercial phase of the product. so very excited, i'm seeing where that evolution over the last really 40 years, right? with, with dca has taken us today. i'm curious about what you're thinking and this is part of the challenge with brian computer interface is people wiring about as

thoughts being shared quite openly. so when you see some of these experiments, the development, what are you concerned about, or perhaps you're very happy about is going in the right direction. people being very careful. yeah. so that's a great question. so when it comes to the ethics, you know, there's a few things that i think we should be thinking about and, and 1st, you know, for any medical device or, or even any drug, right? the 1st, the most basic thing you want a stablish is safety. and advocacy, right? so that's sort of the ground level ethics and, you know, these devices, these narrow technologies also raise other really interesting ethical issues such as the one you mentioned privacy, right? so what sorts of data are being captured from the brain? what can they reveal about a person's thoughts and how is that data being protected? you know, and some of these protections may fall under, you know, current medical device regulations and, and hipaa protections at least here in the u. s. right. there's certain protections

for medical information, but there's other kinds of information that may not be protected by by laws like hipaa. so i think privacy is a, is a major concern, you know, other concerns or things like the long term safety, right? so what happens when this device is implanted for a, you know, a very long time, right? we're talking 203040 years inside an individuals brain. and another other top. what does, what does it feel like we, we so then uh, at the very beginning of the, of the show, eric's brain surgery. yeah. what does that feel like? do you know, do we know right now? so eric, how is the feeling? how does the disconnect that feeling? what have you seen? how and, and then i'll up and you, inc. and i think i wanted to, to share. so the way we experience our world is, is really filtered through our brain. so anyone who had had

a catastrophic injury of the brain or loved one to his experience, bad or brain injury knows that your world and the way that you navigate is altered . so brain technology has this opportunity to really have this transformative therapeutic potential. so if someone like you showed there has, might have a less, we've had a stroke so they can't communicate anymore. now it's enabled a social life that they didn't have before. and it was my area of work used to be parkinson's disease where we have simulators put in for people to restore movement . and i watched in the operating room as we turned on the simulator, an individual who at uncontrollable movements piece moved out with the changes and stimulation with electrical activity. and then there are people who have received that same kind of a deep brain stimulation to alleviate intractable and treatable depression. and their report from patients barely say that actually self report, bitcoin claim being a sideboard. but at the same time would say that their humanity was actually restored by having this device. they now can live their life to the fullest and at

the at best. i think that's what we're a future. we're striving for technologies that can help empower people to live their most, their full list and their best lives. so on you change last cool, all in an hour and is listening to our conversation. and i will describes this as a nightmare. happy sea ice and night back and can be highly dangerous placing monitor. do you get that instant via that comes from members of the public? do you understand that and how do you address it? yeah, i think it's actually for me. um, i can see the, the, the concern because i think it's whether it's the, the, the, the, the media or even within movies. you know, this is a deep tech net technology in a very, on the forefront of technology. and i think karen karen and explained it very well about some of the concerns and some of the things that we need to continuously look at as far as all this technology evolves. but when i look at, you know, this application to, to humans, we're, we're talking about

a very specific population. and these are patients that are, are locked in what considered locked in. they have a less, a very progressive diseases. and this is where they, they had no longer have functions of their, their hands, their feet such as stephen hawkings. and so this gives them that back that independence. so when you have that type of severe paralysis, and there's actually more piece of people than you think there's over 5000000, i think that in that severe paralysis around the world. so there's a lot of people out there that i think would like to regain that independence didn't individuality. be able to commute. yeah. be able to get back to their daily livings to some degree. and so when i look at that, that's where we're focused. that's what our mission is to help the very patient focused and to ensure we, we create that independence for that patient. and so i think it's a, we're a very long way from this being applied to an able bodied person in, in here at st current. again we're, we're our, our focus, you have to go through that critical path and the, the end, the regulated path. and so it's very important. there's utility and functionality

for, for patients out there. oh no. go ahead. yeah, i, i think the fear or there it is that instinctual thought like, oh my god, right, what's going to happen? we have, besides, i think that comes from this idea of, of a technology being able to potentially read our thoughts. and it's boring to say that we're not there yet. we're not completely reading thoughts at the moment. but you know, i think it's also important to point out that when we think about reading thoughts, it's important to think about what can be inferred about us right now. from other mean. so for example, right on my phone, right, there's location data that people can take. there's my browsing history is g mail, right? google has my e mails that have a whole profile of me. so there's so much already based on my digital trail that can be inferred about my private life, and there's currently not good protections for that sort of data. so for me, the fear actually starts there from, from, from everything that's already being gathered about me. and so i wouldn't say that privacy with brand computer interfaces is not a concern. it is a concern,

but i think we have to start from, you know, all the information that's already being currently gathered about us. some of our viewers are listening to this conversation, watching this conversation and saying what is this? so anything to do with you know, must, can new and, and can, you know, most can new. and then, cuz is one of the private companies who are looking into brand computer interface, i'm gonna show you part of the life test that they did on november, the 30th. so a little while ago. and what you will see here is a monkey slipping on. i think it's like a been not a shake, so that's what's in its monkey's mouth. but he's going to bring an implant in his brain and he is asking for snacks. and then along comes a little tablet and he decides which that he wants to have. this is you have to believe or if this is actually happening. so you have to believe the science cuz what i'm seeing is the video. and i, i'm a little skeptical as to the monkey really asking for those snacks and who's to say

a monkey doesn't think about snacks every 60 seconds anyway. so i feel that the system issues every that's just because i'm, i'm probably a little bit skeptical here. but there's a, a point that came from one of our view is, who wonders about experimentation and experimenting on animals. is that just what happens in this field of science? do expand on animals before you go to humans? i know, can you stop for sure. uh, so the answer to that is yes, usually experiments on animals before you go to humans and usually start with a smaller moles. and then you, you proceed to mammals. before you get to humans, you have to establish certain, you know, safety and reliability, even in the animal studies before you can move to humans. um, the reports that have come out about the animal use that narrow link, i would say are concerning. and they are concerning, mostly because of the number of animals that, again, if these reports are correct and that are being used. so the number of animals that

were used i, i forget the exact number in the reports, but it was far more than it's typically used in a study. another concerning point here is that there are a number of internal reports that were brought up. so there were employee complaints again, allegedly about what was going on at narrow link and to employees, according to again, the reports actually left the company because of concerns about how animals are being treated. so from, you know, from the outside, again, based on the investigative report, it does seem like what was happening at the narrow link was actually going a bit further. and i mean that not in a good way a bit further than what's normally done, you know, as in research companies, i want to, yeah. and, and turned back to the important point that i started with to about notions of, of mind reading. i mean, i was just so is missing narrative popular mirror, narrative of mind reading and even perpetuated. i think through the, the eli most thing i'm kind of syfy fiction that so pervasive these days around

brain uploading and downloading that. but just isn't grounded in the reality of the science of today, and we're constantly fighting against that even if that's a desire. it's not where we are. and what is mentioned by kurt and the technology that we have for bring. ready coding which is, it is actually a really involved us. what does the patient for to experience they experience a lot of effort. they experience a deep relationship with the research or where they have to learn how you most of us are, are very lucky and that we can just think we want to say something and it comes out without any processing or, or real effort. these patients have to really concentrate and figure out how to connect that to the technology and then get it to do what they want to. i mean this is, this sometimes can take years for some of these prosthetic devices to, to work. so it's not like there's this $1.00 to $1.00. i want to move. i want to talk this thing comes out it's, it's actually quite difficult. so we're really far from being able to do that. good

. and i do actually, you know, care and it's a couple of things that i loved to make just a couple of comments around, you know, just with the, you know, the, you on my skin. and i'm not here to comment on a narrow link at all, but what i say in general, and especially how they, they're testing and stuff. but what i say in general, i think competition in more people that are focused on those and developing these technologies is a good thing for patients. i think at the end of the day. and so i think that just broadly speaking of, of how we're looking at this and, but we obviously have to follow the regulated and the rules of a governance of all the countries that we reside in and things like that. um, as far as like how you know, how close and how reality, i think, how close we are. um, you know, our technology is, is, again, a very minimally invasive. it's a, it's not tethered to anything or a computer, anything in, in, within a short period of time. so i agree that it's almost like running a bike. you have to train your body, put, you might do something that it doesn't say like a motor intent to run just all the it was showing animation because somebody says

you kind of have to see it to really appreciate it. so we've got an added be great to me. yeah. let's play this animation. and then you can tell us what when looking at, cuz it really helps. here we go. yeah, yeah. so this is the, this centroid device right here that's up in the, uh, the sinus or the vein up above the motor cortex of the brain. so then the nice thing about the, the stench road in the st crowd switch system is that we navigate up into the brain to the blood vessels. and that allows a very minimally invasive approach to apply this type of b, c. i, technology. once that is, once that recording head is in that vein above the motor cortex, we can now read those rod digital signals, motor intent signals. in matter of fact, you can see the device right here that i'm holding. so it's just like a step like device. how's it right in front of your face? cut. yeah. can you see it at all? put it in front of your face because we see it. yeah. very got reset and okay. yeah, yeah. and so this is, it looks like it's sent in. spence have been used for uh,

you know, probably the last 20 years, especially in the coronary space and stuff. so we've balanced the, the technologies that are out there to be able to go through the blood vessel and read the signals from the brain. and again, within a very short period of time, we're talking weeks that the person now has the, you know, there is some training. so we do have that like field engineers to give support to help the training to utilize the system. but it actually comes on line within weeks and the patients able to do action using this utility of the system within a short period of time. again, usually within the 1st, like $3.00 to $6.00 weeks, they're, they're up and running and able to have at least do some functionality. and i think that's where learning as we go. and there's gonna be more functionality. but we're excited because again, this has real utility for a fairly ugly with this technology. i know you look like he's got a question, go ahead. yeah, i just wanted to underscore is i, i should say have no financial relationship with any companies in the space. but what's interesting about syncron right, is that they're, you know, one of the only companies, it's not the only company that's avoiding direct neurosurgery. so i think what they're, they're doing is, is really unique and they've actually been able to make

a lot of progress. and i would say in terms of clinical trials, they're there further along then uh, no language maybe have gotten more attention in the, in the media. but they're actually, you know, the st. crohn's doing really the work on the ground in the works for this. i and then as the work, interesting, yes count. i think that, you know, i, i think as we near the end of our time, you know, lot of these technologies that you have to implants that are going to be happening in very, you know, limited situations with the clinician or researcher. and i think maybe something to be on the radar of yours or this product, this proliferation of commercially available wearable headsets and enter your pieces that claim to record brain activity. and actually, the quality of most of those technologies is course it's poor. but that really hasn't impacted their sale or deployment. and despite maybe not even accurately

recording from the brain or really being able to drive much information about the brain. there, beings, we're seeing them used in schools. we're seeing them being used in workplaces. and we've also heard reasonable concerns from parents and employers or employees. we're wondering if there is going to be discrimination based on information that might not even be real, but spot to be real, that county the library. if i might let me, let me just share this question with you, cuz asking was i thinking the same thing? so do you, joe says, this technology needs to be highly regulated and it should be done very strictly. is that what you're saying? that it's out there and maybe not that great at it. so ready in schools and in educational institutions to yeah i, i think so right now this is something that, and i said to there are some regulations that these kinds of devices that collect biological or biometric information would fall under. but it's these inferences, these, these predictions of about people and how they might behave and how they might

think those are the types of things that aren't really protected yet. and there are a lot of, there's erica enter, governmental trans national efforts right now, working on looking for those gaps and regulation. but right now it's really up to the, the company and the end user. and to, to kind of have the end user needs to have good hygiene, look through their look at what they can about their technology, all of those data policies that they can. some of them are inscrutable, that, that's a problem. and for companies to be really looking ahead at the 1st misuse that they might anticipate with their technologies and to try stay ahead of that. let me just give out or yes. one more example of what brain computer into facing can look like . and this is from a company called sent attack. and what you see here is a gentleman called tivo. he's in a french trial, as she is, has a, a brain improper which will then into face with a suit. which will mean you can see the extraordinary that

tivo, who taught quote on aided is able to walk. what else is this technology able to do for you? look ahead into the future. what's possible in a sentence, i'm going to go through all 3 of the predict the future ada. what is possible to what's possible, i think, you know, a lot faster communication for people who need it. so we're talking about both healthy, you know, both people who need assistive technology so, so individuals are disabled, but perhaps even healthy individuals communicating right with the computer. uh, interesting kind of what is possible in the future in a sentence. or i think these irreversible diseases and disorders that we've seen are going to be reversible, like we see walk again. and i also think we're going to see an inner connection for everybody between brain devices and their internet of things. home,

like with alexa and all that, i, wow. alexa in our brain was supposed to been not in your brain connected to the, to i rang faxed you for the correction professor. and good. good. yeah, from my perspective, what i see in the future is, you know, thought thousands of people are patients that, that have disabilities now regaining independence in multiple ways. whether it's smart, you know, controlling smart environments, mobility that was a great technology just showed in there, just communicating with loved ones and getting back that functionality in their lives. so, and i don't think it's too far off, you know, within the next 10 years, i think we're, we're targeting thousands of people being able to utilize systems such as b c, eyes. so i'm really excited about it. it is such an exciting field of technology and development and brand computer interface technology. i'm wondering how much it may cost us and if it will be available for everybody. but that is

a conversation for another day. for now, i will say thank you to cut and have an at i'm use your excellent questions, really appreciate you. so you next time. take the, the closing steve, this task scaling high, smashing talbot said we'd success comes a chance to make a difference. i felt that it was in for, and the idea that there was part of what i have to do is have the opportunity to understand that my journey is bigger than i can actually create meaningful team for my platform. if i to do so generation school, it's a new series coming soon on,

i'll just be around. this is the heart of the typical indian region between child in ecuador. it's known for its extraordinary biodiversity. and this essential for providing much of the capital's fresh water and food. not far away. april to us government has granted 12 mining concessions to local and international companies. and 8 more are in the works. apart from the exquisite vegetation, the mountains, and the shows that you see here are rich in gold. and in copper, that is why the communities that live here. one that all this could become one giant mind that would contaminate and destroy life. yes, national park and they put doors. amazon ring forest is one of the most bio diverse in the world. but it's also reaching oil it put orange will essentially have to decide what's more important. exploding it for doors, most important source of income, or preserving it for the good of the environment and its inhabitants.

the knowledge is here. with the as the head of the walk them listen, regroup is reported to have been killed in a plane crash. 2 months after leaving a mutiny failed mutiny in russia. the wrong i'm in this is alan, does he live from dough ha. also coming up the latest from the brit squares of nations invite 6 countries to become new members of the.