People in the UK can now sign up for Neuralink trials

Elon Musk’s Neuralink, the neurotechnology company specializing in implantable brain-computer interfaces, has announced the opening of its patient registry in the UK.

On Neuralink’s website, the company urges users to “Join Neuralink’s patient registry UK” if they are “interested in learning whether (they) qualify for future Neuralink clinical investigations in the United Kingdom.”

The company doesn’t currently have any clinical investigations open in the UK. However, those who qualify can sign up for the trials when they become available.

“Anyone within the UK who is at least 18 years old, who is able to consent, and who has quadriplegia, paraplegia, vision loss, hearing loss, the inability to speak, and/or major limb amputation (affecting above or below the elbow and/or below the knee), is invited to participate in the Patient Registry UK,” Neuralink said.

However, the patient registry doesn’t automatically secure you a seat in Neuralink’s clinical investigations.

Noland Arbaugh was the first patient to receive the Neuralink, and earlier this year, he was seen playing chess on his computer.

Arbaugh, 29, told viewers that he was involved in a freak diving accident eight years ago, dislocating parts of his spine and paralyzing him from below the shoulders.

As mentioned briefly in the video, various research sessions have been conducted throughout the process, but Arbaugh has been using the technology to navigate certain areas of his daily life.

The video shows Arbaugh controlling the computer cursor with his brain as he solves problems in a game of chess.

However, Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink has admitted that part of its brain implant – already in a patient’s head – has malfunctioned before, adding that there was no risk to the person’s safety.

A number of the implant’s threads that had been placed in Arbaugh’s brain came out, the company said, and it reduced the amount of data the device could capture.