- Nothing new An implant gives a blind person back some sight
Nothing in the window bears on the next rung, in wide use, which needs a counted population in the hundreds of thousands. The nearest news is older: the PRIMA retinal chip for dry macular degeneration reported its one-year trial result in the New England Journal of Medicine and has a European approval, with no United States approval; that is a second device on a rung this entry already holds, and PRIMA is a watch term worth adding.
- Nothing new A cochlear implant gives a deaf person hearing
Read monthly, as an entry at the top of the ladder. No withdrawal and no new count in the window. The only regulatory item found is an open class 2 recall of Advanced Bionics' HiResolution system, begun 2026-04-30 and posted by the FDA on 2026-06-01, which is a recall of one maker's product line and not a withdrawal of cochlear implants. No newer worldwide count than the institute's figure of about 736,900 registered devices as of December 2019 was found from a primary source.
- Nothing new A gene therapy restores sight in an inherited blindness
Nothing in the window. Luxturna remains the only approved gene therapy for an inherited retinal disease (an insurer's policy dated April 2026 says so), and no count of treated patients large enough for the next rung was found. The three researchers behind it received the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in April, which is recognition, not a rung.
- Waiting on me A gene therapy restores hearing in a child born deaf
The entry's notes say no regulator had approved an OTOF gene therapy when the record was written on 2026-10-16, and that an approval is what would move it to in clinical use. That is wrong: the United States Food and Drug Administration gave accelerated approval to Regeneron's Otarmeni (lunsotogene parvec-cwha) on 2026-04-23, the first gene therapy for a genetic hearing loss, on its own press announcement. The European regulator accepted the same therapy's application for accelerated review later in 2026, with no decision yet. Nothing new happened in the window itself.
- Nothing new An implant in the visual cortex gives sight with no working eyes
Nothing in the window. The nearest item is older: Cortigent presented six-year results for the six Orion patients in January 2026 and says it is planning a larger trial with the FDA, with no date. Neuralink's Blindsight did not come up in either search. Nothing approaches the next rung, a regulator's approval.
- Nothing new A device gives a person a sense no human is born with
Nothing in the window. The searches returned a 2015 thesis on implanted magnets, a Japanese rat study with a compass chip, and background on sensory augmentation; no peer-reviewed human report and nothing bearing on the next rung.
- Nothing new A prosthetic arm moves by thought and feeds back touch
Nothing in the window. No regulator has approved a two-way prosthetic hand; the Florida International University system is under an investigational exemption, which allows a study and not sale, and the Cleveland Clinic's two-way arm report is from 2021.
- Nothing new A powered exoskeleton lets a paralysed person walk
Nothing in the window bears on the next rung, in wide use, which needs a counted population. Lifeward's first-quarter 2026 filing reports personal exoskeleton sales of 1.6 million dollars, up 11 per cent, with Medicare Advantage coverage from three large insurers; no unit count newer than the 2024 annual report's was found. No new clearance.
- Nothing new A spinal implant lets a paralysed person walk again on their own legs
Nothing in the window. Just before it, on 2026-09-03, Onward Medical reported the first implant in its EIGER feasibility study of the ARC-IM spinal implant for standing and walking, up to twelve participants in Switzerland; a feasibility study is not the regulator's approval the next rung needs. Onward's approved product, ARC-EX, is a non-invasive device for hand function and sits outside this entry's test.
- No change A prosthetic limb fixed to the bone with nerve control
On 2026-09-17 Integrum announced that the first patient in the United States had received its e-OPRA system (a bone anchor with implanted muscle and nerve electrodes) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in a study led by the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab under an FDA investigational device exemption, eight patients in all, expected to conclude in 2030. That is the combination this entry's next rung is about, but an investigational exemption permits a study, not sale, so no stage moves; the entry stays at first human until a regulator approves the anchor-plus-electrodes combination.
- Nothing new A gene therapy builds stronger muscle in a healthy body
Nothing in the window. No trial of a myostatin-blocking or muscle-growth gene therapy in healthy adults was found; the human trials on record are antibody or protein blockers in healthy volunteers, or gene therapies in people with muscle disease, neither of which meets the test. A 2026 Nature Communications genetics study of 1.1 million people found carriers of myostatin-disrupting variants have more lean mass and grip strength, which bears on safety, not on the rung.
- Nothing new A brain implant improves memory recall in a person
Nothing in the window. The searches returned only the 2017 and 2018 reports already in the entry's notes; no new trial registration and nothing toward a regulator's approval.
- Nothing new A drug raises a measured thinking ability in healthy adults
Nothing in the window meets the test. The nearest is a 2026 trial of a Cistanche and Ginkgo supplement in 117 healthy adults reporting better memory after thirty days, registered in a Chinese registry, with no independent replication; the test asks for a drug, a pre-registered trial with a margin it was built to detect, and a second group repeating it.
- Nothing new An always-on AI assistant is used daily by most adults in a country
No new survey in the window. The bar in the entry's name, more than half of a country's adults on a typical day, is still met nowhere: Pew's survey of 5,119 United States adults, fielded 2026-02-17 to 2026-02-23 and published 2026-06-17, puts daily use at 24 per cent and any use at 49 per cent, and a Goodwater Capital consumer survey gives the same 24 per cent. No Reuters Institute figure for daily use was found.
- Nothing new Electrical stimulation improves learning in healthy adults
Nothing in the window bears on the next rung, a regulator's clearance for learning. The only recent clearance of a scalp stimulation headset is Flow Neuroscience's FL-100 for depression (reported December 2025, on sale in the United States from 2026-09-01), which is a different use. New sham-controlled studies in healthy adults are registrations and protocols, not results.
- Nothing new A brain implant lifts severe depression
Nothing in the window. Abbott's pivotal TRANSCEND trial of deep brain stimulation for depression (about a hundred participants, begun September 2024) has reported no result, and the FDA cleared Motif Neurotech's small skull-mounted stimulator for a first-in-human trial in April 2026, which is a trial and not an approval. The January 2026 vagus-nerve result is a chest implant and sits outside this entry's test.
- Nothing new A closed-loop implant detects a mood state and corrects it automatically
Nothing in the window. The registered closed-loop depression trials (the UCSF study using the NeuroPace device, due 2030; a Shanghai trial starting August 2026; two Pulvinar Neuro studies of a non-invasive version) have no published results, and nothing approaches a regulator's approval.
- No change A psychedelic therapy is approved for prescription
Nothing in the window moves the stage. In the United States, Compass Pathways' psilocybin (COMP360) is on an expedited review path (a priority voucher granted 2026-04-24, the application's last parts expected in the last quarter of 2026) with a decision expected late 2026 or early 2027, which would be a second regulator on the rung this entry already holds, not a new rung. On the claim still to check: the Australian regulator's page, which would not load on 2026-10-16 when the record was written, loaded tonight in a browser. It is titled 'Change to classification of psilocybin and MDMA to enable prescribing by authorised psychiatrists', published 3 February 2023, and says that from 1 July 2023 authorised psychiatrists may prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, under the Authorised Prescriber Scheme, with no approved product evaluated by the regulator. That is the wording the entry describes.
- Nothing new A treatment removes a specific fear memory on purpose
Nothing in the window. A Canadian randomised trial of propranolol after recall of traumatic memories (75 participants) appeared in the European Journal of Psychiatry's July to September 2026 issue; its outcome was not visible in the search and it is a trial, not the regulator's approval the next rung needs. Earlier trials are mixed, as the entry's notes say.
- Nothing new A drug makes people live longer in good health
Nothing in the window. The metformin trial (TAME) is still unfunded in full and has no result, with primary results unlikely before 2027 or 2028; the rapamycin trials in people measure body composition and blood markers, not healthy years. No human result meets the test.
- Nothing new Partially resetting cells reverses ageing in a living animal
Nothing in the window. Life Biosciences' trial of ER-100 in two optic nerve diseases, which the entry's notes say dosed its first participant on 2026-06-09, has reported no measured result; the searches found only the company's 2024 and 2025 animal presentations and secondary coverage of the trial's start. The first-human rung needs a measured marker moved toward youth in a person.
- Nothing new A drug clears aged cells from a person's body
Nothing in the window. No regulator has approved a senolytic drug (a June 2026 summary says so), and the trials found (the Mayo Clinic osteoporosis trial, a small mild-cognitive-impairment trial, the St Jude survivors trial due 2027) add nothing to the rung already held.
- Nothing new An organ from a gene-edited pig keeps a person alive
Nothing in the window itself. Just before it, on 2026-09-03, The Lancet published the case report of Tim Andrews, who lived 271 days on a gene-edited pig kidney (transplanted 2025-01-25, removed October 2025) and then received a human kidney in January 2026; that is a longer figure on the rung this entry already holds. The FDA-cleared trials of pig kidneys are enrolling, and Mass General Brigham has said a third transplant is planned later in 2026. Nothing toward a regulator's approval.
- Nothing new A printed or lab-grown organ works in a person for a year
Nothing in the window. The one approved human trial of a printed body part found (3DBio's ear) is cartilage, which the test leaves out; printed lung scaffolds are in animals. The engineered bladders of 2006 remain the record.
- Nothing new A child is born from an embryo whose genes were edited on purpose
Nothing in the window. No new birth has been reported. Japan's cabinet approved a bill in April 2026 to ban transferring genome-edited embryos, and the two start-ups announced in late 2025 (Manhattan Genomics, Preventive) had disclosed no target disease or technique in the coverage found.
- Nothing new A baby is born with donor mitochondria to avoid an inherited disease
Nothing in the window. Australia's mitoHOPE pilot, the first programme outside Britain, now expects its first participants in the second half of 2027, and no new British births have been reported since the eight in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2025. On the claim still to check, the first child's birth date: the 2017 paper's abstract (PubMed 28385334) says only that the boy was 'healthy at 7 months of age' when it was written, and its full text would not load, while coverage gives both 2016-04-06 and 'May'; the claim is not settled and stays on the list.
- Nothing new Embryos are chosen by a genetic score for traits, not disease
Nothing in the window; no regulator has acted (an August 2025 law-firm review says none has). On the claim still to check, the launch date of 2025-06-04: secondary coverage supports it (a launch-video screenshot dated 2025-06-04 and a report that the service was unveiled on a Wednesday, which that date was), but the company's own release was not found, so the claim is not settled and stays on the list.
- Nothing new A mammal is carried to birth in an artificial womb
Nothing in the window. No animal has gone from fertilisation, or from before mid-gestation, to birth outside a body: the marsupial embryo work reported in January 2025 reached mid-gestation and mouse embryos stop at about day 11. A viral 2026 claim of a 'pregnancy robot' was debunked. The FDA's 2023 advisory meeting on late-pregnancy support devices concerns a different thing, which the test excludes.
- Nothing new A fully implanted wireless brain chip lets a paralysed person control a computer
Nothing in the window toward the next rung, a regulator's approval: Neuralink (twelve patients as of September 2025), Synchron, Paradromics and Shanghai NeuroXess (a fully wireless implant reported December 2025) are all in trials, and CorTec's second FDA breakthrough designation for its Brain Interchange system speeds a review without approving anything. No source dated in the window was found.
- Nothing new A wired brain implant lets a paralysed person control a cursor
Nothing in the window. BrainGate registered a new study for people with aphasia in August 2026 and its tablet and speech studies are recruiting; no regulator has approved a wired implant for cursor control, and Blackrock's MoveAgain still holds only a breakthrough designation.
- Nothing new A brain implant turns intended speech into text at conversational speed
Nothing in the window. The searches returned the two August 2023 Nature reports (62 and 78 words a minute) and the 2025 Berkeley and UCSF streaming-voice report, all already on the rung this entry holds; no faster figure and nothing toward a regulator's approval.
- Nothing new A brain implant gives a person touch from a robotic hand
Nothing in the window. The nearest work is the Chalmers and Chicago report in Science of patterned stimulation giving a bionic hand's user edges, curvature and motion (2025), on the rung this entry already holds. On the claim still to check, whether the 2016 Pittsburgh paper itself includes touch triggered by the robotic hand: its abstract (PubMed 27738096) describes sensations evoked by stimulation 'perceived as originating from locations on the hand' and graded by amplitude, and does not mention the robotic hand's sensors; the full text would not load, and the 2016 coverage describing the volunteer naming which prosthetic finger was touched comes from the university's release. Not settled; the claim stays on the list.
- Nothing new A headset worn on the scalp controls a device without surgery
Read monthly, as an entry at the top of the ladder. No withdrawal and no new count in the window; market reports give revenue, not units, and no dated NeuroSky statement of a million chips was found, so that claim stays on the list. On the other claim still to check: secondary sources (Wikipedia's account and Wolpaw's 2011 review) describe Vidal's 1977 paper in Proceedings of the IEEE as volunteers steering through a maze on a screen in real time by attending to corners of a flashing checkerboard, read from scalp signals, which would meet this entry's first-human test eleven years before the 1988 speller; the paper's own text was not read, so the claim is supported but not settled.
- Nothing new An uploaded animal brain reproduces something it learned
Nothing in the window meets the test. Eon Systems' fruit-fly emulation in a simulated body (reported February to April 2026, company statements with no peer-reviewed paper) produces walking, grooming and feeding, which are innate; no simulation built from a readout has reproduced a behaviour the animal learned. Eon says it plans a mouse within two years, which is a plan.
- Nothing new A brain link carries more information per second than speech
Nothing in the window meets the test. Paradromics claims more than 200 bits a second in a preprint and in animals, and reports a first permanent human implant in June 2026 with no human rate published; Neuralink's human cursor figures are about 8 bits a second at best. No peer-reviewed human report gives a sustained rate above forty bits a second. 'Paradromics' and 'Connexus' are watch terms worth adding.