All posts tagged: Invasive

50 million pounds of invasive fish removed from Illinois River

50 million pounds of invasive fish removed from Illinois River

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. While swimmers and boaters don’t have to fear sharks or giant squid in the Great Lakes watershed, invasive fish the size of large dogs lurk in the freshwater. Invasive carp have wreaked havoc on the ecosystem for over a century, but officials have hit a milestone worth celebrating in the fight against these mega fish.  In the past 15 years, wildlife officials have removed 50 million pounds of invasive carp from the Illinois River. That’s equivalent to roughly 5,000 elephants. The removal is part of a broader and coordinated effort to protect the rivers and lakes from this non native species. Why are carp a problem? Currently, four species of invasive carp cause harm in the Great Lakes and beyond—bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), …

China has approved the world’s first invasive brain-computer chip—here’s what’s next

China has approved the world’s first invasive brain-computer chip—here’s what’s next

Published by skeptic

NEO beat several other BCIs to approval, including one from Neuralink, a California-based company founded by Elon Musk. Since October 2023, Neuracle has conducted 36 clinical trials using NEO, including the one on Dong. Thirty-two of them took place in the space of a few months in 2025, with the details about one of the four first in-person trials published in a preprint paper last July. Neuracle did not reply to a request for comment from MIT Technology Review. One reason for NEO’s fast approval could be that it has a “relatively less invasive” design than counterparts such as Neuralink’s N1 brain chip, says Avinash Singh, a BCI researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. NEO’s eight sensors sit on top of the brain’s protective membrane while Neuralink’s N1 chip directly penetrates the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain itself. Neuracle’s device faces fewer regulatory constraints because it presents a lower risk of hemorrhage, glial scarring, and long-term signal degradation, Singh says. China’s strong support for its BCI industry also means that NEO was …

Scientists sacrifice delicious opossums to fight Florida’s invasive pythons

Scientists sacrifice delicious opossums to fight Florida’s invasive pythons

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Some of Florida’s opossums may soon start dying for a noble cause. A few select marsupials fitted with tracking collars may begin to lead scientists to invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) slithering through the Everglades. More specifically, researchers will home in on signals coming from inside the enormous snakes’ stomachs.  Florida’s decades-long python problem remains one of the toughest ecological challenges facing wildlife conservationists in the United States. Despite experts’ best attempts to highlight their nutritional value and even hunt them using robotic rabbits, the snakes have continued to decimate native animal populations, since they were introduced into the Everglades during the 1970s. Curtailing Florida’s unwanted apex predators is much easier said than done. Burmese pythons can grow upwards of 20-feet-long, and unlike humans, they are the species that is specifically evolved to thrive in subtropical wetlands. Local opossums, on the other hand, don’t have any problem traipsing through the marshy terrain the way we do. In 2022, North …

Two people die in ‘invasive’ meningitis outbreak | UK News

Two people die in ‘invasive’ meningitis outbreak | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Two people have died during an outbreak of meningitis in the Canterbury area of Kent. In a statement, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 11 other people had fallen ill with signs of symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia. All cases were discovered in the past two days and one of those who died was a student at the University of Kent. Antibiotics are being arranged for some students in the area, the agency said. Image: Some students across Canterbury have been given antibiotics by the UK Health and Security Agency. The statement went on: “UKHSA and the University of Kent are issuing advice to staff and students. “Specialists at the UKHSA are interviewing affected individuals and their families to help identify all close contacts and arrange antibiotics to limit spread. “Anyone becoming unwell with symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia, should seek medical help urgently at the closest Accident and Emergency Department or by dialling 999. “Early treatment can be lifesaving.” The specific strain has not been identified at present. Here are the symptoms of …

Towards less invasive stimulation for brain disorders

Towards less invasive stimulation for brain disorders

Published by skeptic

Michaela Nesvarova discusses the impacts of brain disorders and routes to offering less invasive methods to monitor them. Living with a brain disorder often means relying on medication that does not work for everyone and, in some cases, surgery. EU-funded researchers are now investigating whether nanotechnology could one day offer a safer, less invasive alternative. For decades, treating serious brain disorders has often meant making a difficult trade-off. Symptoms could be relieved, but usually at the cost of invasive surgery and implanted electrodes that stay in the body for life. “Having wires in your body isn’t ideal,” said neuroscientist Mavi Sanchez-Vives, head of the Systems Neuroscience group at the IDIBAPS research institute in Barcelona, Spain. “Yet for many patients, it has been the only option.” That paradigm may now be beginning to shift. Sanchez-Vives is leading a three-year EU-funded research initiative called META-BRAIN that runs until December 2026. The team is exploring new ways to interact with the brain by combining nanotechnology, ultrasound and advanced brain monitoring. Bringing together scientists and clinicians from leading research institutions across …

Should you eat invasive species? We asked an ecologist.

Should you eat invasive species? We asked an ecologist.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. “By definition, invasive species are harmful in some regard,” says Jacob Barney, a professor of invasive plant ecology at Virginia Tech University. So when we eat them, he adds, “we turn that harm into something positive.” Although just how positive an impact eating invasives has can vary. Wherever human beings go, we introduce plants and animals from other places, both deliberately and accidentally. However, not all introduced species have the same impact on their new environments.  An introduced species is only considered invasive if it poses a threat to native species, for example by competing with them for limited resources. In the absence of natural predators, invasive populations may swell far beyond what their new environment can support. Fortunately for those concerned about the ecological impact of these interloping plants and animals, it just so happens that a lot of them are pretty tasty.  At the end of each semester, Barney challenges his students to bring dishes made with …

Breakthrough Brain-Computer Interface Is Minimally Invasive

Breakthrough Brain-Computer Interface Is Minimally Invasive

Published by Jenni Sidey

An important milestone has been achieved in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. A new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering shows how a high-performance brain-computer interface can be rapidly implanted through a minimally invasive procedure. “We have demonstrated that the entire surgical procedure for cranial micro-slit insertion, from initial skin incision to endoscope-guided array placement and final securing of the array positions, can be safely performed in under 20 minutes,” wrote corresponding author Benjamin Rapoport, MD, PhD, along with his team of neuroscientists at Precision Neuroscience. Rapoport is a brain-computer interface pioneer, neurosurgeon, engineer, and one of the original eight Neuralink employees who co-founded Elon Musk’s BCI startup in 2016. Rapoport left Neuralink two years later. He is currently the Chief Science Officer of Precision Neuroscience who co-founded the company in 2021 along with Michael Mager and others, including former Neuralink employees. Brain Computer Interfaces: Mind-Reading Tech Brain computer interfaces are potentially life-changing technology that enable users to control external devices to perform daily tasks such as moving wheelchairs and robotic limbs, exoskeletons, synthesized speech, communications, …