Name: Device connects mans brain to an iPad through Bluetooth
Uploaded: 2025-11-22T01:23:45.967Z
Duration: 2 min 20 s
Description: A new device lets users control an iPad just by thinking. For the first time ever, a person with ALS, a disease that attacks the nervous system, used a brain implant to navigate an Apple device.

A new device lets users control an iPad just by thinking. For the first time ever, a person with ALS, a disease that attacks the nervous system, used a brain implant to navigate an Apple device.

Brooklyn

A 65-year-old man with ALS has become the first person to use a brain implant to control an Apple device, thanks to technology developed by Brooklyn-based Synchron. The device, called a stentrode, was implanted in a blood vessel near his brain without the need for traditional brain surgery, allowing him to send commands to his iPad or iPhone via Bluetooth.

The implant reads brain signals and translates them into digital commands, enabling the patient to play games, text, and send emails using only his thoughts. While the procedure is less invasive than open brain surgery, it still carries risks such as infection or blood clots. Synchron is seeking FDA approval and plans to conduct larger studies in the near future.

Device connects man's brain to an iPad through Bluetooth

A science fiction breakthrough is now a reality thanks to a new device that lets users control an iPad just by thinking. For the first time ever, a person with ALS, a disease that attacks the nervous system, used a brain implant to navigate an Apple device. National Consumer Correspondent, Usher Qureshi, spoke with the team behind this groundbreaking technology. You ready? Yep. Mark Jackson is 65. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS, four years ago. A lot of the loss in this type of disease is the loss of independence. Jackson used to work in the floral industry, but the neurodegenerative disease, which attacks the cells controlling muscle movement, has robbed him of the use of his arms, hands, and legs. It's one of the cruel things about ALS. I can still feel like I'm as sharp as I used to be. So when he learned about a new clinical study that would put a kind of remote control computer in his head, he did not hesitate. They asked me if I would help, and I said, absolutely. A Brooklyn-based company called Synchron invented this one-of-a-kind endovascular device called a stentrode. Doctors inserted it into a blood vessel near Jackson's brain during a three-hour procedure without any need to open his skull. So less invasive than brain surgery? Absolutely less invasive. The device reads Jackson's brain signals, relaying them to a unit implanted in his chest. The commands are translated and then sent via Bluetooth to his iPhone or iPad. And so it's that translation, that decoding of that neural connection that allows you to have that control back in the digital world. Jackson is now doing something pretty extraordinary. He's playing this game using only the power of his mind. He can also text or send an email. What does it feel like when you are trying to move something in the physical world with your brain? It takes a fair amount, I would say, of concentration. I can still think in my head, clench my right fist. And that's what I'm thinking about whenever I get to the point where I'm making that move with just the brainwave activity. Even though the procedure is minimally invasive, there can be risks, including infection or blood clots. As Synchron works toward FDA approval, it's expected to begin larger studies later this year. Asher Qureshi, CBS News.

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