Latest news with #UniversityOfMiami
News.com.au
11 hours ago
- Science
- News.com.au
Paralysed woman writes her name for the first time in 20 years after having Elon Musk Neuralink chip implant surgery
A woman paralysed since 2005 has written her name for the first time in two decades thanks to Elon Musk. Audrey Crews became the first woman in the world to undergo surgery earlier this month receiving Mr Musk's Neuralink chip implant, allowing her to control a computer with her mind. Ms Crews recently took to X to show the world how she was able to select a coloured cursor on screen and sign her name through telepathy. She showed off how she could also draw pictures, scroll with a mouse and use a keyboard just by thinking. 'I tried writing my name for the first time in 20 years. I'm working on it. Lol,' she said. 'I am the first woman in the world to do this.' Ms Crews was left a quadriplegic at age 16 following a car accident that left the vertebrae in her neck permanently damaged. By 2016, tech billionaire Musk co-founded Neuralink with expert in neuroscience in hopes of using AI tech to treat brain disorders. Three years later he revealed the N1 chip, which is placed on the brain to translate electrical signals into tasks. Ms Crews is just the ninth recipient. She underwent surgery at the University of Miami Health Centre where surgeons place over 100 threads, thinner than human hair into her motor cortex after drilling through her skull. The implant, roughly the size of a 10 cent coin, sends those signals to a linked computer or smartphone with Neuralink's software via Bluetooth, allowing patients with paralysis or neurological conditions to communicate digitally. 'Imagine your pointer finger is left click and the cursor is with your wrist, without physically doing it. Just a normal day using telepathy,' she said. Ms Crews has also started taking requests of what to draw next, recently sketching a cat, a sun and a tree after being asked by X users. She's also able to play simulation games testing her accuracy and speed by having her cursor track points on the screen as they change. Mr Musk even replied to a post about Ms Crews' story. 'She is controlling her computer just by thinking. Most people don't realise this is possible,' he said. While the technology won't allow her to regain movement of her limbs, the advancement has so far impressed Ms Crews who hopes to make the most of it by writing a book about her experiences. The chip is powered by a small battery that charges wirelessly. Asked if she ever imagined being able to communicate in such a way again, Ms Crews had one response: 'Not in all my wildest dreams, but the future is here.'
The Independent
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Kai Trump secures over $1 million in deals before heading to University of Miami
Kai Trump, President Donald Trump 's eldest grandchild, has secured Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals valued at over $1 million. The 18-year-old, who is set to join the University of Miami 's golf team, has signed agreements with Accelerator Active Energy, Leaf Trading Cards, and TaylorMade Golf. Her substantial social media following, exceeding six million across various platforms, has been key to her securing these lucrative endorsements. Kai's NIL valuation of at least $1.2 million positions her among the top-earning female student-athletes. She has stated her intention to pursue a professional golf career following her college education.
CBS News
17-07-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Increased shark sightings may scare swimmers, but scientists say that's good news for conservation
Great white shark sightings off the coast of Maine triggered warnings Wednesday for people to stay out of the water. Those sightings are not new in South Florida, but they do get a lot of attention. That's why CBS News Miami went out on the water to learn why we see sharks so often and what it means for our ecosystem. A shark reeled in miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in May and just weeks later, a little girl was bitten off the Gulf Coast. Shark stories are everywhere. "The thing we like to say is that if you're in the water and it's salty, there's probably a shark nearby," said Catherine MacDonald, the director of the University of Miami's Shark Research and Conservation program. For MacDonald and her team, that's exactly what they are hoping for. This nurse shark was one of many they caught on their trip. "We take a few small tissue samples, blood samples and measurements that we use to study the health of sharks here," she said. Here in Biscayne Bay, it's a perfect place for researchers to monitor shark populations over the long term. In 2024 alone, UM's Shark Research and Conservation program reeled in and tagged over 550 sharks. The bay is perfect for these species to have and raise their young, but it's changing. "Because the estuary is warming 6.9 times faster than the ocean, there is reason to be concerned that, between human impact and warming, we may see this habitat become less good for them as time goes on," MacDonald. For Delaney Reynolds, preserving this habitat is a calling and has been a longtime goal of hers. "I went on my first shark tagging trip with the University of Miami in high school, and I knew the second I stepped on the boat that this was something I wanted to do," she said. Reynolds has been doing that for years now as a PhD student at UM. She is seeing how the changing water is affecting the sharks. From that first tagging trip to now this, Reynolds — now the teacher for current high school students — may be the future for these summer scholars taking part in their first shark tagging trip. "You get an adrenaline feeling when they come on board, you get those lines in and it's exciting," said UM summer scholar Sam Lambert. High school students come to South Florida from across the country to explore firsthand with the research team. "We don't have an ocean in Chicago — we have a lake," said Camila Johnson, another summer scholar. "I wanted to explore the exotic wildlife [and] learn more." Excitement was felt four times when three nurse sharks and a black tip shark were reeled in and tagged. "Every time we see a shark, it's not the summer scholars that are excited but my team as well," MacDonald said. So no matter what the species, the students and researchers like what they see today. Researchers told CBS News Miami that the number of sharks here is mostly stable, or even increasing slightly, which is good news for South Florida's environment. "Sharks being present in the ecosystem is a good sign for how well it is functioning and sharks being absent means there are more problems with the system itself, or it has become so damaged that sharks have moved," MacDonald said. A good sign so far, but something these current and potential future scientists will continue to monitor.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
How ‘oppressive' FSU revenue-sharing deals show continued exploitation of college football players
Revenue sharing is now a feature of college athletics. Thanks to the house settelement signed in May, schools are permitted to spend $20.5m annually across sports, including through expanded scholarships and direct payments (of which it appears football will generally receive approximately 75%). This would seem to mitigate the longstanding problem of exploitation in college football. However, in a sport still defined by extreme injury, recently disclosed provisions in the new Florida State University (FSU) revenue-sharing contract show that schools appear to simply be finding new ways to extract value from players, as ever at startling personal cost. Per a CBS Sports report, the new FSU contract being distributed to football players reads, in part, 'the following circumstances create a breach of contract by Student-Athlete: Student-Athlete experiences any illness or injury which is serious enough to affect the value of the rights granted to [school] under this Agreement.' In other words: If a player gets injured, the school has leverage to cancel the deal. Darren Heitner, adjunct law professor at the University of Florida and University of Miami, and an expert on college sports' name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, was stunned by what he found upon reading the contracts. 'I take no issue with the drafter of a contract creating a document that leans in favor of the drafting party. In fact, that's expected,' he told us. 'However, there is a problem with a contract when it is so unfair, one-sided, and oppressive that it shocks the conscience. 'Reviewing the terms and considering that sometimes 17-year-olds with no legal counsel will be asked to sign on the dotted line, my takeaway is that this rises to the level of unconscionability unless thoroughly negotiated. I have reviewed dozens of revenue-sharing agreements and none compare.' In a statement given to CBS Sports, FSU said in part that 'Each individual situation will be unique and the hypotheticals are impossible to predict. However, we are committed to continuing to provide an elite experience for our student-athletes in all aspects of their collegiate career.' Injury, of course, is an inherent feature of college football. In our recent book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game we observe that every 2.6 years of participation in football doubles the chances of contracting the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and that 91 percent of American college football players' brains examined in a pivotal Boston University study displayed neuropathology consistent with CTE. Similarly, participation in football likely increases the chances of developing Parkinson's disease by 61 percent compared to athletes in other organized sports (and that risk is 2.93 times greater at the college/pro level). In the book, we interviewed twenty-five former big-time college football players about their experiences in the sport. Many of those players suffered extremely debilitating injuries that caused them to lose seasons or even end careers, including knee reconstructions, torn AC joints, neck surgeries, torn achilles tendons, and countless concussions. One player told us, 'Before I got to college, never had an injury. By the time I left college, I had a medical record book of over six hundred pages. From rehab notes, surgery notes, to MRIs. I had over twelve MRIs total, five knee surgeries. This was while I was playing. . . . Later I found out that I had four torn labrum[s]. So I have a torn labrum on both shoulders, torn labrum on both hips.' Thus, the question of players being relieved of their contractually agreed upon compensation as a consequence of injury is hardly academic. It will happen, and to many. 'I think the recently revealed contract details from Florida State exemplifies the current attitude of university officials who have completely lost sight of their jobs as educators,' former UCLA and NFL player Chris Kluwe told us. 'They view college athletes (and students) as a product to be bought and sold and not human beings, which runs contrary to everything the education system should be. 'In a sport like football where athletes are predominately black and in a state like Florida where the current government seems intent on returning to the Antebellum Era, the fact school officials feel the need to include severe language curtailing players' rights to the product of their labor is intensely concerning, and highlights the need for a college players union to protect athletes from would-be modern day plantation owners.' The situation is compounded by the fact that universities don't provide long-term health insurance to the players, leaving them to bear all the associated costs of their physical hardship. One player we spoke to for the book actually told us that 'Long term, just strictly financially … it will have [ended up], like I paid money to play college football.' Until such time as there are genuine occupational health and safety protections befitting a profession with such profound inherent dangers, it's clear that the sport is not actually entering a more humane era. The House Settlement has ushered in little more than a new modality for the same old exploitation and harm. Nathan Kalman-Lamb is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick and co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. He is co-host of The End of Sport podcast. Derek Silva is Professor of Sociology and Criminology at King's University College at Western University and co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. He is co-host of The End of Sport podcast.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
How ‘oppressive' FSU revenue-sharing deals show continued exploitation of college football players
Revenue sharing is now a feature of college athletics. Thanks to the house settelement signed in May, schools are permitted to spend $20.5m annually across sports, including through expanded scholarships and direct payments (of which it appears football will generally receive approximately 75%). This would seem to mitigate the longstanding problem of exploitation in college football. However, in a sport still defined by extreme injury, recently disclosed provisions in the new Florida State University (FSU) revenue-sharing contract show that schools appear to simply be finding new ways to extract value from players, as ever at startling personal cost. Per a CBS Sports report, the new FSU contract being distributed to football players reads, in part, 'the following circumstances create a breach of contract by Student-Athlete: Student-Athlete experiences any illness or injury which is serious enough to affect the value of the rights granted to [school] under this Agreement.' In other words: If a player gets injured, the school has leverage to cancel the deal. Darren Heitner, adjunct law professor at the University of Florida and University of Miami, and an expert on college sports' name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, was stunned by what he found upon reading the contracts. 'I take no issue with the drafter of a contract creating a document that leans in favor of the drafting party. In fact, that's expected,' he told us. 'However, there is a problem with a contract when it is so unfair, one-sided, and oppressive that it shocks the conscience. 'Reviewing the terms and considering that sometimes 17-year-olds with no legal counsel will be asked to sign on the dotted line, my takeaway is that this rises to the level of unconscionability unless thoroughly negotiated. I have reviewed dozens of revenue-sharing agreements and none compare.' In a statement given to CBS Sports, FSU said in part that 'Each individual situation will be unique and the hypotheticals are impossible to predict. However, we are committed to continuing to provide an elite experience for our student-athletes in all aspects of their collegiate career.' Injury, of course, is an inherent feature of college football. In our recent book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game we observe that every 2.6 years of participation in football doubles the chances of contracting the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and that 91 percent of American college football players' brains examined in a pivotal Boston University study displayed neuropathology consistent with CTE. Similarly, participation in football likely increases the chances of developing Parkinson's disease by 61 percent compared to athletes in other organized sports (and that risk is 2.93 times greater at the college/pro level). In the book, we interviewed twenty-five former big-time college football players about their experiences in the sport. Many of those players suffered extremely debilitating injuries that caused them to lose seasons or even end careers, including knee reconstructions, torn AC joints, neck surgeries, torn achilles tendons, and countless concussions. One player told us, 'Before I got to college, never had an injury. By the time I left college, I had a medical record book of over six hundred pages. From rehab notes, surgery notes, to MRIs. I had over twelve MRIs total, five knee surgeries. This was while I was playing. . . . Later I found out that I had four torn labrum[s]. So I have a torn labrum on both shoulders, torn labrum on both hips.' Thus, the question of players being relieved of their contractually agreed upon compensation as a consequence of injury is hardly academic. It will happen, and to many. 'I think the recently revealed contract details from Florida State exemplifies the current attitude of university officials who have completely lost sight of their jobs as educators,' former UCLA and NFL player Chris Kluwe told us. 'They view college athletes (and students) as a product to be bought and sold and not human beings, which runs contrary to everything the education system should be. 'In a sport like football where athletes are predominately black and in a state like Florida where the current government seems intent on returning to the Antebellum Era, the fact school officials feel the need to include severe language curtailing players' rights to the product of their labor is intensely concerning, and highlights the need for a college players union to protect athletes from would-be modern day plantation owners.' The situation is compounded by the fact that universities don't provide long-term health insurance to the players, leaving them to bear all the associated costs of their physical hardship. One player we spoke to for the book actually told us that 'Long term, just strictly financially … it will have [ended up], like I paid money to play college football.' Until such time as there are genuine occupational health and safety protections befitting a profession with such profound inherent dangers, it's clear that the sport is not actually entering a more humane era. The House Settlement has ushered in little more than a new modality for the same old exploitation and harm. Nathan Kalman-Lamb is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick and co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. He is co-host of The End of Sport podcast. Derek Silva is Professor of Sociology and Criminology at King's University College at Western University and co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. He is co-host of The End of Sport podcast.
