The Week of

The FDA authorized Paradromics to recruit patients for a clinical trial of its experimental Connexus brain implant, which is designed to help people with paralysis or neurological diseases communicate by converting brain signals into text or synthesized speech.

The decision removes a previous requirement that participants live within four hours of a participating medical center. Eligible patients across the entire continental United States are now eligible.

Paradromics completed its first long-term human implantation in June 2026. By September, a woman with a progressive neurological disease was using the device to select words, answer questions, and speak with her grandchildren over the phone. Here’s more: https://jlsfund.substack.com/p/fda-clears-nationwide-recruitment

A single dose of an experimental psychedelic nasal spray produced rapid and sustained improvements in people with treatment-resistant depression, according to a study published in JAMA.

Researchers tested mebufotenin benzoate (a fast-acting psychedelic) in 193 adults who had failed to respond to at least two conventional antidepressants. Patients receiving the two higher doses experienced improvements in depression symptoms within 24 hours, with benefits lasting up to eight weeks. About one-third experienced at least a 50% reduction in symptoms.

Unlike psilocybin or LSD treatments, which can require several hours of medical supervision, the nasal spray's psychedelic effects wore off relatively quickly. Between 78% and 85% of patients receiving the two higher doses were considered ready for discharge within two hours. Check it out: https://jlsfund.substack.com/p/new-study-finds-psychedelic-nasal.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals reported encouraging Phase 1 results for two experimental non-opioid pain medications, XEN1701 and XEN1120. Both drugs target proteins that transmit pain signals through the nervous system. In studies involving healthy volunteers, the treatments were generally well tolerated and reached drug concentrations expected to be effective. Separate animal studies also demonstrated significant reductions in pain responses.

Xenon plans to begin Phase 2 trials of both drugs in the first half of 2027, initially targeting acute pain. The goal is to develop effective alternatives to opioids without the associated addiction risks. Here’s more: https://jlsfund.substack.com/p/xenon-pharmaceuticals-reports-promising

Did you know that smaller ants spend more energy on their brains compared to larger ants?

According to a new study from researchers at Arizona State University and Boston University, smaller ants devote a surprisingly large portion of their energy to keeping their brains running. Researchers examined 11 species of harvester ants and found that the smallest workers used approximately 38% of their resting energy on their brains, compared with just 6% among the largest workers. The smaller ants also had proportionally larger brains that consumed more energy per unit of brain tissue.

These findings could help scientists better understand how brains evolved and why maintaining brain function requires so much energy, even in some of the world's tiniest creatures. Check it out: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/293/2081/20260387/483772/Evolution-of-neurometabolic-frugality-in-harvester.