U.C.S.F., another co-author of the
study, said at the news conference.
Sounds like the “sh” in “ship” were
decoded particularly well, whereas
sounds like “th” in “the” were espe-
cially challenging, Chartier added.
Several other research groups in
the United States and elsewhere are
also making significant advances in
decoding speech, but the new study
marks the first time that full sentenc-
es have been correctly interpreted,
according to Slutzky and other
scientists not involved in the work.
“I think this paper is an example of
the power that can come from
thinking about how to harness both
the biology and the power of machine
learning,” says Leigh Hochberg, a
neurologist at Massachusetts General
Hospital and a neuroscientist at
Brown University and Providence VA
Medical Center. Hochberg was not
involved in the work.
The study is generating excitement
in the field, but researchers say the
technology is not yet ready for clinical
trials. “Within the next 10 years, I think
that we’ll be seeing systems that will
improve people’s ability to communi-
cate,” says Jaimie Henderson, a
professor of neurosurgery at Stanford
University, who was not involved in
the new study. He says the remaining
challenges include determining
whether using finer-grained analysis
of brain activity will improve speech
decoding; developing a device that
can be implanted in the brain and can
decode speech in real time; and
extending the benefits to people who
cannot speak at all (whose brains
have not been primed to talk).
Hochberg says he is reminded of
what is at stake in this kind of
research “every time I’m in the
neurointensive care unit and I see
somebody who may have been
walking and talking without difficulty
yesterday, but who had a stroke and
now can no longer can either move or
speak.” Although he would love for
the work to move faster, Hochberg
says he is pleased with the field’s
progress. “I think brain-computer
interfaces will have a lot of opportuni-
ty to help people, and hopefully, to
help people quickly.”
—Karen Weintraub
*Editor’s Note (April 24, 2019):
This quote has been updated. Chang
clarified his original statement to
specify that his lab has not attempt-
ed to decode thoughts alone.Do Microdoses
of LSD Change
Your Mind?
A rigorous study has
intriguing resultsYOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD about
microdosing, the “productivity hack”
popular among Silicon Valley engi-
neers and business leaders. Micro-
dosers take regular small doses of
LSD or magic mushrooms. At these
doses, they don’t experience
mind-bending, hallucinatory trips, but
they say they get a jolt in creativityand focus that can elevate work
performance, help relationships, and
generally improve a stressful and
demanding daily life. If its proponents
are to be believed, microdosing offers
the cure for an era dominated by
digital distractions and existential
anxiety—a cup of coffee with a little
Tony Robbins stirred in.
So far, though, it’s been impossible
to separate truth from hype. That’s
because, until recently, microdoses
haven’t been tested in placebo-con-
trolled trials. Late last year, the first
placebo-controlled microdose trial
was published. The study concluded
that microdoses of LSD appreciably
altered subjects’ sense of time, GETTY IMAGESNEWS