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For Elon Musk, giving sight to the blind isn't just a first century phenomenon. The Tesla and X CEO brain implant venture, Neuralink, filed trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on March 3 for "Telepathy," "Telekinesis," and "Blindsight," hinting at a future where human thought could transcend traditional communication and control. The company, co-founded by Musk in 2016, is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI), a system that decodes neural signals to operate external devices. Musk has touted telepathy as Neuralink’s first product, designed to empower people with paralysis to "control a computer or phone just...

University of Kentucky eye researchers have identified mice with two unusual genes as the first animals likely to help crack the mysteries of the nation's leading cause of blindness for people 50 and older -- age-related macular degeneration. Finding an animal with the eye disease -- or something very similar, in this case -- is a crucial first step to test potential treatments, said Dr. Jaya-krishna Ambati, UK's director of ophthalmic research. Ambati led the research and wrote about the findings in November's issue of the journal Nature Medicine, published Sunday. "In medical research and vision research this is a...