Category: Science

A peer-reviewed study led by Special Olympics with Oregon State University finds that five widely used AI chatbots consistently generate biased stories about people with intellectual disabilities. Researchers had the systems write 25,000 short stories about everyday situations, such as crossing a street, playing sport or going to a store, then compared how people with and without intellectual disabilities were portrayed. Stories about people with intellectual disabilities were far more likely to be paternalistic, depict them as younger and more dependent on others, and cast them as sources of inspiration rather than as people simply going about ordinary lives.

Why it matters: As AI tools increasingly shape hiring, healthcare and education decisions, stereotypes built into their outputs can quietly reinforce real-world discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities.

Source: Special Olympics →

Researchers have built a soft, wearable exosuit that helps people walk with less effort, without a single motor. Instead, thin rubber-like fibres called dielectric elastomer actuators contract like artificial muscles when a small electric field is applied, flexing at the hip to assist each stride. In treadmill tests with six adults, the roughly 4-pound (1.9kg) device cut the energy cost of walking by close to 14%, matching or beating many motorised hip exoskeletons while staying lighter and quieter. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, point toward lighter, cheaper mobility aids for older adults, people recovering from injury, or anyone who tires quickly on their feet. Long-term durability and comfort under sweat, heat and repeated use still need further testing.

Why it matters: Motor-free designs could make walking-assistance devices lighter, quieter and more affordable, widening access for people who find today’s motorised exoskeletons too bulky, heavy or expensive for daily use.

Source: Tech Xplore →

Precision Neuroscience says it has achieved real-time, thought-based control of a computer, including cursor movement, gaming and smartphone navigation, using a brain-computer interface that sits on the surface of the brain rather than piercing it. The company says this is the first time this level of control has been shown without electrodes penetrating brain tissue, using its ultra-thin “Layer 7” electrode array, which is about one-fifth the thickness of a human hair. Layer 7 already has FDA clearance and is being developed to help restore digital communication and control for people living with paralysis.

Why it matters: Most brain-computer interfaces developed so far require electrodes to be surgically implanted into brain tissue, which carries real surgical risk; a device that works from the brain’s surface could make this technology safer, cheaper and more widely available to people who lose movement or speech.

Source: MassDevice →

A Flinders University-led study has found that social inequity experienced by young Australians with disability has barely changed in more than two decades. Using 23 years of data (2001–2023) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, researchers compared people aged 15–29 with and without disability across 29 indicators spanning health, education, employment and community life. Despite major reforms over that period, including the NDIS rollout and Australia’s ratification of the UN disability rights convention, the gap between the two groups has not meaningfully narrowed on any of the measures tracked, the study found.

Why it matters: The findings suggest funding and policy reform alone haven’t translated into better day-to-day outcomes for young disabled Australians — worth watching as further NDIS changes roll out this year.

Source: Flinders University →

An international clinical trial co-led by Mass General Brigham and Fudan University’s Eye & ENT Hospital found that a one-time gene therapy restored hearing in about 90% of participants born with a rare genetic form of deafness, with benefits lasting up to 2.5 years. The trial, the largest and longest-followed study of its kind, treated 42 people aged 0.8 to 32 years who have mutations in the OTOF gene, delivering a working copy of the gene via a single injection into the inner ear. Most participants regained hearing within weeks and went on to develop or improve speech, with younger children and those treated in both ears showing the strongest gains. The results were published in the journal Nature.

Why it matters: OTOF mutations cause only a small share of inherited deafness, but this is the strongest evidence yet that a single gene therapy injection can produce durable hearing and speech gains, a step researchers hope will guide therapies for other genetic causes of hearing loss.

Source: Mass General Brigham →

UCLA Health researchers have found that a single dose of rapamycin, an existing immunosuppressant drug, rapidly reversed autism-like gene expression and brain signalling changes in adult mice within about two hours. The mice had been exposed to prenatal inflammation, a known risk factor linked to autism-like traits. Rapamycin appeared to rebalance activity in excitatory neurons and correct abnormal expression of genes tied to autism, epilepsy and ion channel function, without altering the brain’s underlying structure. The effect was temporary: daily dosing built up tolerance within weeks, and rapamycin’s toxicity risk means it isn’t ready for use in people. The mouse-only findings are an early step, not a treatment.

Why it matters: The findings point to specific, measurable brain targets, such as neuron excitability and the mTOR signalling pathway, that future therapies could aim to correct for particular autism symptoms like sensory over-responsivity, rather than treating autism as one fixed condition.

Source: UCLA Health →

Science Corporation has launched PRIMA, a subretinal implant for people with geographic atrophy caused by age-related macular degeneration, commercially across Europe after receiving CE marking. The system pairs a photovoltaic chip implanted under the retina with glasses that project near-infrared light, converting it into signals the brain can interpret, including a zoom feature to magnify text. In clinical trials, patients gained a mean improvement of more than five lines on a standard eye chart, and most reported being able to read letters and words again. The first commercial implant is expected soon in Germany, with a US launch possibly in 2027.

Why it matters: Geographic atrophy is a leading cause of blindness in older adults, and until now there has been no approved treatment that restores vision rather than just slowing its decline — this is among the first devices shown to give meaningful reading vision back.

Source: Science Corporation (Business Wire) →

Researchers at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes report in a Nature Medicine cover study that their ‘double neural bypass’ system helped a man with complete paralysis regain feeling and movement in his hand, with gains lasting months after the device was switched off. Keith Thomas, paralysed since a 2020 diving accident, can now grasp, lift and drink from a cup unaided, and feel his family dog’s fur. The system combines a brain-computer interface, AI, and targeted electrical stimulation of the brain and spinal cord to route signals around the injury site, and researchers believe it may have encouraged his nervous system to rewire itself.

Why it matters: Unlike most brain-computer interfaces, which only work while switched on, these lasting gains suggest the technology could eventually help people with severe paralysis regain function permanently, not just while connected to a machine.

Source: Northwell Health / Feinstein Institutes →

A new study estimates that US colleges are serving far more students on the autism spectrum than previously understood, with between 135,400 and 286,254 currently enrolled, more than double earlier estimates of around 60,000. Published in the journal Autism in Adulthood and led by Michigan State University’s Brad Cox, the research argues that outdated data, some more than 25 years old, has left institutions undercounting and under-supporting autistic students. Campus programs like the University of Missouri-St. Louis’s Link initiative, which pairs students with academic and life-skills coaching, offer one model colleges could expand as they update how they identify and support this population.

Why it matters: Better estimates help colleges plan disability services, staffing and funding instead of relying on decades-old data that undercounts autistic students.

Source: Disability Scoop →

A study of more than 10,000 UK children by Queen Mary University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London, published in Molecular Psychiatry, finds that traits of autism, ADHD, dyslexia and related conditions overlap on a single underlying “neurodevelopmental spectrum” rather than sitting in separate diagnostic boxes. Children with high spectrum scores at age 7 were more than twice as likely to have a special educational needs and disability (SEND) status by age 12, and the measure explained up to 21% of the variance in real-world school outcomes — more than looking at any one diagnosis alone. Researchers say the findings support assessing and supporting children by their broad needs rather than a single category.

Why it matters: Most children with a neurodevelopmental condition have traits of more than one, so a needs-based rather than diagnosis-based approach could mean earlier, more joined-up support in schools and clinics.

Source: Queen Mary University of London →