Pager the 9-year-old macaque can play a game of Pong using nothing but his brain (and he's pretty darn good)!
Neuralink, a brain implant company owned by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, has been working with Pager for six weeks now, after having two devices installed in his brain. The devices allow him to control a computer without even touching it. Don't worry, Pager is one happy monkey as his training gives him a treat in the form of a delicious banana smoothie as a reward!
The real-world applications of this amazing breakthrough would be a huge leap for those with paralysis or motor skills disorders, allowing them to be more independent and use things like phones and computers just by thinking about it! There have also been other similar breakthroughs in Neurotech allowing people to control prosthetic limbs with their minds.
Who knows, maybe one day we'll all be playing against monkeys in our favourite online game (and losing).
