Elon Musk's Neuralink got FDA approval to implant a brain chip in a second patient

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink the official go-ahead to implant its experimental brain chip on a second patient, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the company gained approval for a second test patient, along with a modified procedure. Neuralink is currently testing its brain-computer interface (or BCI), which aims to help people with full-body paralysis control outside technology using their thoughts. The news comes weeks after Neuralink reported issues in its ongoing clinical trial, in which some of the implant’s threads — components of the device that record neural activity — retracted from the brain of its first trial participant.