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Implanted cortical neuroprosthetics (ICNs) are medical devices developed to replace dysfunctional neural pathways by creating information exchange between the brain and a digital system which can facilitate interaction with the external world. Over the last decade, researchers have explored the application of ICNs for diverse conditions including blindness, aphasia, and paralysis. Both transcranial and endovascular approaches have been used to record neural activity in humans, and in a laboratory setting, high-performance decoding of the signals associated with speech intention has been demonstrated. Particular progress towards a device which can move into clinical practice has been made with ICNs focussed on the restoration of speech and movement. This article provides an overview of contemporary ICNs for speech and movement restoration, their mechanisms of action and the unique ethical challenges raised by the field., Competing Interests: Declarations Conflicts of interest ATS has co-founded and holds shares in Paradromics, Inc. This work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core funding from Cancer Research United Kingdom (UK; Grant FC001153); the UK Medical Research Council (Grant FC001153); the Wellcome Trust (Grant FC001153). JC was supported by a BBSRC Discovery Felllowship (BB/W010623/1). HJM was supported by UCLH/UCL BRC Neuroscience and the Wellcome EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (203145/A/16/Z). HA is supported by UCLH Biomedical Research Centre., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are single photon detectors that gained increasing interest in many applications as an alternative to photomultiplier tubes. In the field of space experiments, where volume, weight and power consumption are a major constraint, their advantages like compactness, ruggedness, and their potential to achieve high quantum efficiency from UV to NIR makes them ideal candidates for spaceborne, low photon flux detectors. During space missions however, SiPMs are usually exposed to high levels of radiation, both ionizing and non-ionizing, which can deteriorate the performance of these detectors over time. The goal of this work is to compare process and layout variation of SiPMs in terms of their radiation damage effects to identify the features that helps reduce the deterioration of the performance and develop the next generation of more radiation-tolerant detectors. To do this, we used protons and X-rays to irradiate several Near Ultraviolet High-Density (NUV-HD) SiPMs with small areas (single microcell, 0.2 × 0.2 mm 2 and 1 × 1 mm 2 ) produced at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Italy. We performed online current-voltage measurements right after each irradiation step, and a complete functional characterization before and after irradiation. We observed that the main contribution to performance degradation in space applications comes from proton damage in the form of an increase in primary dark count rate (DCR) proportional to the proton fluence and a reduction in activation energy. In this context, small active area devices show a lower DCR before and after irradiation, and we propose light or charge-focusing mechanisms as future developments for high-sensitivity radiation-tolerant detectors.

Rates of mental health problems in adolescence are rising as highlighted in this current issue of the Journal. It is therefore increasingly important to identify children who may be at risk so that preventive interventions can be deployed before they reach adolescence. Adverse parenting has long been considered a risk factor for poor mental health in adolescence, but the methods traditionally used to assess this are laborious, burdensome and costly. Recently, passive monitoring and automated approaches to collecting and analysing spoken and written forms of parental communication have been proposed. This editorial examines the promise of such technological advances for assessing parenting and provides words of caution from parents and young people that should be heeded before rolling these approaches out at scale., (© 2024 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

Background: Rather than being perceived as merely 'part of the problem', the perspectives and experiences of young people play a pivotal role in devising effective solutions for mental health challenges. Two distinct methodologies that aid in this endeavour are 'patient and public involvement' (PPI) and 'responsible research and innovation' (RRI). However, there is a tendency to conflate PPI and RRI practices, leading to ambiguity in their application. Moreover, the extent and nature of young people's involvement in mental health-related projects (namely: research, intervention, product development) employing these methodologies, and the subsequent implications thereof, remain unclear. Consequently, the proposed scoping review aims to identify and analyse literature pertaining to PPI and RRI approaches in mental health projects that engage young people in collaboration., Methods: The selected databases will be MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Scopus, Web of Science, IBBS, CINAHL (EBSCO) and ASSIA. Comprehensive searches will span from the inception of each database. A pilot test will be conducted to assess the screening criteria and data extraction form, with two authors independently reviewing titles and abstracts. Full-text articles meeting the inclusion criteria will undergo narrative syntheses, with results presented in tabular format. Feedback on the findings from a youth perspective will be sought from young people within our broader research network, namely Sprouting Minds. The review will adhere to the guidelines outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and follow the PRISMA-ScR procedures. Inclusion criteria will comprise English-language, primary research peer-reviewed articles focused on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) or Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), examining mental health-related research processes, interventions, and products developed in collaboration with young people. Studies employing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches will be considered, while non-journal publications will be excluded., Discussion: The intended scoping review aims to map the literature concerning mental health-related projects that engage with young people through PPI or RRI approaches. The outcomes hold promise for enriching the participatory research domain, particularly in studies centred on young people and their mental well-being. Furthermore, by delineating potential overlaps and distinctions between PPI and RRI, the findings stand to aid mental health researchers and practitioners in making informed decisions about the most suitable approach for their projects when partnering with young individuals., Systematic Review Registration: Open Science Framework (registration: DOI https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/N4EDB )., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In this article, we report on a pilot study examining perceptions of dual use among neurotechnologists and neuroethicists. We carried out 10 semistructured interviews with participants from established universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia about the risks they saw with the new technology and who has responsibility for safely developing it. We used a grounded theory approach to code and develop themes from the data and establish a foundation for analysis. Our findings showed that dual use was not considered binary, but rather multifaceted and fluid, with the commercialization and globalization of the emerging science shifting participants' understandings of what neurotechnologies are considered beneficial and harmful, rendering future uses unknowable.

The interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our understanding of the neural system's inner workings, and to information technology to develop tools that support those complementary endeavours. The development of these technologies is still at an early stage, which makes them an ideal candidate for proactive and anticipatory ethical reflection. This article explains the current state of neurorobotics development within the Human Brain Project, originating from a close collaboration between the scientific and technical experts who drive neurorobotics innovation, and the humanities and social sciences scholars who provide contextualising and reflective capabilities. This article discusses some of the ethical issues which can reasonably be expected. On this basis, the article explores possible gaps identified within this collaborative, ethical reflection that calls for attention to ensure that the development of neurorobotics is ethically sound and socially acceptable and desirable.

By the end of 2018, 42 years after the landing of the two Viking seismometers on Mars, InSight will deploy onto Mars' surface the SEIS ( S eismic E xperiment for I nternal S tructure) instrument; a six-axes seismometer equipped with both a long-period three-axes Very Broad Band (VBB) instrument and a three-axes short-period (SP) instrument. These six sensors will cover a broad range of the seismic bandwidth, from 0.01 Hz to 50 Hz, with possible extension to longer periods. Data will be transmitted in the form of three continuous VBB components at 2 sample per second (sps), an estimation of the short period energy content from the SP at 1 sps and a continuous compound VBB/SP vertical axis at 10 sps. The continuous streams will be augmented by requested event data with sample rates from 20 to 100 sps. SEIS will improve upon the existing resolution of Viking's Mars seismic monitoring by a factor of ∼ 2500 at 1 Hz and ∼ 200 000 at 0.1 Hz. An additional major improvement is that, contrary to Viking, the seismometers will be deployed via a robotic arm directly onto Mars' surface and will be protected against temperature and wind by highly efficient thermal and wind shielding. Based on existing knowledge of Mars, it is reasonable to infer a moment magnitude detection threshold of M w ∼ 3 at 40 ∘ epicentral distance and a potential to detect several tens of quakes and about five impacts per year. In this paper, we first describe the science goals of the experiment and the rationale used to define its requirements. We then provide a detailed description of the hardware, from the sensors to the deployment system and associated performance, including transfer functions of the seismic sensors and temperature sensors. We conclude by describing the experiment ground segment, including data processing services, outreach and education networks and provide a description of the format to be used for future data distribution., Electronic Supplementary Material: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11214-018-0574-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The essay is an empirical case study of famed British scientist Francis Crick. Viewing him as a 'cross-worlds influencer' who was moreover dedicated to a cause, I have tried to understand how these two characteristics influenced the trajectory of his long career and how they shaped his contributions to the diverse research fields in which he was active, and concluded that these characteristics reconfigure Crick's career into a coherent whole. First, I identify a major thread running through Crick's career: helping organise 'un-disciplined' new research fields, and show that his successive choices were not serendipitous but motivated by what he construed as a crusade against 'vitalism': anti-vitalism was a defining driver of his career. I then examine how Crick put his skills as a crossworlds influencer to the service of his cause, by helping organise his chosen fields of intervention. I argue that his activities as a cross-worlds influencer were an integral part of his way of 'doing science' and that his contributions to science, neuroscience in particular, should be re-evaluated in this light. This leads me to advance a possible strategy for historians to investigate big bioscience fields. Following Abir-Am, I propose to trace their genealogies back to the fluctuating semi-institutional gatherings and the institutional structures that sustained them. My research on Crick supports the view that such studies can bring insights into the question of why the contours of contemporary big bioscience endeavours have come to be shaped the way they are. Further, the essay provides a heuristic device for approaching these enquiries: 'follow the cross-worlds influencers' who worked to build and organise these semi-institutional gatherings and institutional structures., (Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Taking up the view that semi-institutional gatherings such as clubs, societies, research schools, have been instrumental in creating sheltered spaces from which many a 20th-century project-driven interdisciplinary research programme could develop and become established within the institutions of science, the paper explores the history of one such gathering from its inception in the early 1980s into the 2000s, the Helmholtz Club, which brought together scientists from such various research fields as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, psychophysics, computer science and engineering, who all had an interest in the study of the visual system and of higher cognitive functions relying on visual perception such as visual consciousness. It argues that British molecular biologist turned South Californian neuroscientist Francis Crick had an early and lasting influence over the Helmholtz Club of which he was a founding pillar, and that from its inception, the club served as a constitutive element in his long-term plans for a neuroscience of vision and of cognition. Further, it argues that in this role, the Helmholtz Club served many purposes, the primary of which was to be a social forum for interdisciplinary discussion, where 'discussion' was not mere talk but was imbued with an epistemic value and as such, carefully cultivated. Finally, it questions what counts as 'doing science' and in turn, definitions of success and failure-and provides some material evidence towards re-appraising the successfulness of Crick's contribution to the neurosciences., (Copyright © 2013 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)