Isabel Gerrard

In 2025 July, the third-ever interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, was discovered on its ingress into the solar system. Similar to the NASA Voyager missions sent in 1977, science probes by extraterrestrial life (“artifact technosignatures”) could be sent to explore other stellar systems like our own. In this campaign, we used the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array to observe 3I/ATLAS from 1–9 GHz. We detected nearly 74 million narrowband hits in 7.25 hr of data using the newly developed search pipeline bliss. We then blanked hits by frequency and drift rate to mitigate radio frequency interference in our dataset, narrowing the dataset down to ∼2 million hits. These hits were further filtered by the localization code NBeamAnalysis, and the remaining 211 hits were visually inspected in the time-frequency domain. We did not find any signals worthy of additional follow-up. Accounting for the Doppler drift correction and given the nondetection, we are able to set an effective isotropic radiated power upper limit of 10–110 W on radio technosignatures from 3I/ATLAS across the frequency and drift rate ranges covered by our survey.

Next-generation human-computer interaction (HCI) is moving towards more seamless, intuitive,
and personal modes of communication, redefining how we interact with technology and one another.
Within this landscape, silent speech recognition (SSR) offers a powerful new interaction paradigm,
enabling hands-free, private interaction while supporting individuals with speech impairments and
enabling communication in noisy or sensitive environments. Recent advances in miniaturized sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) have accelerated the development of more sophisticated wearable
SSR systems, driven by growing demand for effortless and accessible communication. Although
electrophysiological (ExG) modalities, particularly electromyography (EMG), have dominated early
efforts in developing wearable SSR, critical challenges remain. Limited generalizability across
users, sensor-skin interface issues, and difficulties with the comfort of use are all current roadblocks
to reliable, high-fidelity signals in a wearable form factor. We propose that magnetometers offer
a promising alternative to ExG and have the potential to unlock more robust, generalizable, and
user-friendly SSR systems. We demonstrate that magnetometers embedded in a headphone form
factor achieve a per-user SSR accuracy of 86%, significantly outperforming previously reported
state-of-the-art wearable headphones combining ExG and inertial measurement units (IMUs). In
addition, we show that wearable magnetometry enables generalization across individuals for SSR.
Extending beyond headphones, we also introduce a necklace form factor with magnetometers that
is capable of decoding both silent and overt speech in ambient conditions, further showcasing the
versatility of magnetometers across different wearable designs in real-world conditions.

Introduction: The normal transition to sleep is characterized by a reduction in higher frequency activity and an increase in lower frequency activity in frontal brain regions. In sleep onset insomnia these changes in activity are weaker and may prolong the transition to sleep.

Methods: Using a wearable device, we compared 30min of short duration repetitive transcranial electric stimulation (SDR-tES) at 0.75Hz, prior to going to bed, with an active control at 25Hz in the same individuals.

Results: Treatment with 0.75Hz significantly reduced sleep onset latency (SOL) by 53% when compared with pre-treatment baselines and was also significantly more effective than stimulation with 25Hz which reduced SOL by 30%. Reductions in SOL with 25Hz stimulation displayed order effects suggesting the possibility of placebo. No order effects were observed with 0.75Hz stimulation. The decrease in SOL with 0.75Hz treatment was proportional to an individual’s baseline wherein those suffering from the longest pre-treated SOLs realized the greatest benefits. Changes in SOL were correlated with left/right frontal EEG signal coherence around the stimulation frequency, providing a possible mechanism and target for more focused treatment. Stimulation at both frequencies also decreased perceptions of insomnia symptoms measured with the Insomnia Severity Index, and comorbid anxiety measured with the State Trait Anxiety Index.

Discussion: Our study identifies a new potential treatment for sleep onset insomnia that is comparably effective to current state-of-practice options including pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy and is safe, effective, and can be delivered in the home.