Both of the ladies can talk with out an implant. The first, Pat Bennett, who has ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s illness, makes use of a pc to kind. The second, Ann Johnson, who misplaced her voice as the results of a brain-stem stroke that left her paralyzed, makes use of an eye-tracking gadget to pick out letters on a pc display screen.
That skill to speak is what gave them the facility to consent to take part in these trials. But how does consent work when communication is tougher? Read the complete story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech e-newsletter. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
Why salt marshes may assist save Venice
Venice, Italy, is affected by a mix of subsidence—the town’s foundations slowly sinking into the mud on which they’re constructed—and rising sea ranges. In the worst-case situation, it may disappear underwater by the 12 months 2100.
Scientists more and more see the sinking metropolis as a laboratory for environmental options. They’re investigating whether or not synthetic mudflats within the Venetian lagoon could be turned again into the marshes that when thrived on this space and change into a functioning a part of the lagoon ecosystem once more, which in flip, would assist to safeguard the way forward for the town itself. Read the complete story.