UC Davis research team advances cursor movement for people with paralysis
A team of engineers, neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at UC Davis discovered a way for the speech cortex of the brain to control a computer cursor, according to an Oct. 16 University of California press release.
Before this breakthrough, speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) were used to translate brain signals into synthesized speech, but it was “previously unknown” whether the ventral, speech or motor cortex could enable someone to use a computer via a neural cursor. According to the team’s findings, which were originally published in May, this ability is usually associated with the dorsal (arm and hand) motor cortex.
With these findings, future BCIs may allow a person with paralysis to control a computer using brain signals and is “proof that complex, multimodal BCIs are feasible,” per the press release.
“There’s a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who can control his computer independently without someone else helping him for hours and hours every day. It’s like this great event, and we might not have tried if we didn’t have that prior research encouraging us to do that,” Tyler Singer-Clark, a UC Davis biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate and first author on the paper, said in the release.
UCLA releases federal administration’s proposed settlement
UC Los Angeles released the Trump administration’s settlement demands regarding the University’s alleged civil rights violations on Oct. 24. The demands were publicized after the UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of UC Faculty Associations won a lawsuit against the UC Regents last week over access to the settlement.
According to the Daily Bruin, President of the UCLA Faculty Association Anna Markowitz believes that making the settlement demands public will allow faculty to help oppose the settlement.
The demands include a nearly $1.2 billion fine, a ban on overnight demonstrations and a ban on race and ethnicity-based scholarships, according to the Los Angeles Times. The federal administration presented the settlement to UCLA in August after it revoked $584 million in grants over the summer.
“As stated previously, the proposed $1.2 billion settlement payment alone would derail work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security,” UC Office of the President spokesperson Omar Rodriguez told the Daily Bruin. “UC remains committed to protecting the mission, governance, and academic freedom of the University.”
UC Merced celebrates 20th year of operation
The 2025-26 academic year marks UC Merced’s 20th year in operation. UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz reflected on the University’s history at the 2025 State of the University address held on Oct. 22.
“[UC Merced’s first chancellor, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey] knew then, as I do now, that the people assembled to learn, to teach, to work and inquire at UC Merced have indeed been and remain categorically up to the task,” Muñoz said at the event, according to the UC press release.
Muñoz highlighted several of the University’s accomplishments, including an annual $1 billion economic impact in Merced County, its advancement in national college rankings and its status as an R1 public research university.
During the event, Muñoz also announced that Keith Alley, “one of UC Merced’s founding leaders,” alongside his wife, Jill Alley, created an endowment for the University and pledged up to $2 million for undergraduate research.
A version of this article appeared on p.2 of the Oct. 30 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
