Synthetic speech generated from brain recordings

A state-of-the-art brain-machine interface created by neuroscientists can generate natural-sounding synthetic speech by using brain activity to control a virtual vocal tract — an anatomically detailed computer simulation including the lips, jaw, tongue, and larynx. The study was conducted in research participants with intact speech, but the technology could one day restore the voices of people who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis or neurological damage. More details

Zipline Expands Medical Drone-Delivery Service to Ghana

With today’s official launch in Ghana, Zipline has vastly expanded the largest drone-delivery network in the world Today, Zipline is officially opening the first of four distribution centers in Ghana, inaugurating a drone-delivery network that will eventually serve 2,000 hospitals and clinics covering 12 million people. We’re very familiar with Zipline’s dropping-packages-of-blood-from-the-sky operations in Rwanda, but Ghana will be on a much larger scale, with more drones flying more frequently delivering more items.