EU-funded robot uses magnets to steer graphene implants into the brain
EU-funded robot uses magnets to steer graphene implants into the brain

A European research group has built a robot that uses magnets to steer ultra-thin graphene electrodes into the brain. Barcelona’s INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, which leads the clinical work, announced the results on Wednesday, at the end of the EU-funded M…

Bridge Neurotech raises $13.5M to read brains with ultrasound, no implant
Bridge Neurotech raises $13.5M to read brains with ultrasound, no implant

Bridge Neurotech came out of stealth on Tuesday with $13.5M in funding. It plans a brain-computer interface that needs no surgery and no implant. The startup wants to use ultrasound to read brain activity through the skull. It also signed a research de…

Nobel Prize in medicine goes to the light switch for brain cells
Nobel Prize in medicine goes to the light switch for brain cells

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The prize rewards optogenetics, a method that switches nerve cells on and off with light. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm …

Grindr to buy HIV prevention telehealth firm Freddie for $250mn
Grindr to buy HIV prevention telehealth firm Freddie for $250mn

Grindr has agreed to buy PurposeMed, the company behind HIV prevention service Freddie, for $250mn in cash and stock, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Grindr will pay $190mn in cash and $60mn in shares. Up to $70mn more in cash depends on Freddie h…

Google DeepMind’s watermarked AI proteins still work in the lab
Google DeepMind’s watermarked AI proteins still work in the lab

Google DeepMind has brought its SynthID watermarking technology to synthetic biology. The new tool, SynthID Bio, hides a signature in the amino acid sequence or predicted 3D structure of a protein. The lab announced it on Wednesday in a blog post and a…

44,000 object to Palantir’s NHS data platform, the Guardian reports
44,000 object to Palantir’s NHS data platform, the Guardian reports

More than 44,000 people have filed legal objections to stop the NHS’s Federated Data Platform handling their health records. The platform runs on Palantir software. The campaign asks NHS England to stop the platform sharing, storing or using their data…

Oura postpones its $2.2bn IPO, citing market uncertainty
Oura postpones its $2.2bn IPO, citing market uncertainty

Oura has postponed its Nasdaq IPO, citing “uncertainty in the IPO market”. The Finnish-founded smart ring maker said so in a statement on Tuesday, a week after it launched the offering. It said it is postponing “despite strong demand”, and gave no new …

Red Queen Bio is using AI to design antibodies for future viruses, WSJ says
Red Queen Bio is using AI to design antibodies for future viruses, WSJ says

Red Queen Bio, a biosecurity startup backed by OpenAI, has raised $36 million in total to design antibody drugs against viruses, including ones that AI systems could one day help create, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is starting with an…

Qualcomm launches AI earbud chip, glasses platforms and a health alliance
Qualcomm launches AI earbud chip, glasses platforms and a health alliance

Qualcomm wants earbuds and glasses, not phone screens, to be the way people talk to AI agents. At its Snapdragon Summit in Maui, it launched Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, its first audio chip built for AI agents, and new platforms for smart glasses. Zi…

Precision Neuroscience raises $250m at a $1bn valuation, NYT reports
Precision Neuroscience raises $250m at a $1bn valuation, NYT reports

Precision Neuroscience has raised $250m in a Series D round for its brain-computer interface, the New York company announced on Thursday. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, the Ackman Oxman Institute and an unnamed life sciences fund led the round. The rou…