Measure E Funding and Libraries | UC Davis Health’s Brain Computer Interface | English-Farsi Book Collection

Insight With Vicki Gonzalez

Funding Sacramento’s libraries through Measure E. A new study from UC Davis Health restores communication to people who cannot speak. Finally, a new English-Farsi book collection is helping Afghan refugees in West Sacramento.

Measure E Funding and Libraries

Sacramentans will have an opportunity to weigh in on funding for the city’s public libraries this election. Measure E would extend parcel taxes previously approved by voters. Councilmember Karina Talamantes and Sacramento Public Library Director Peter Coyl join Insight to discuss what this measure means for the future of our libraries and communities.

UC Davis Health’s Brain Computer Interface

A new study is restoring communication for people who can’t speak due to paralysis or neurological conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The technology is called a brain-computer interface (BCI) capable of translating brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy - what UC Davis says is the most accurate system of its kind. This device is part of an ongoing clinical trial dating back 20 years, with the goal to restore the independence of people living with neurological disease. Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez sat down with Dr. David Brandman with the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab, as well as Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Nicholas Card, to get a better understanding of this new technology and when it could scale up beyond a clinical trial.

UC Davis Health is a financial supporter of CapRadio.

English-Farsi Book Collection

The Sacramento region has long been a major destination for refugees, especially from Afghanistan in recent years. A new collection effort is helping Afghan refugee students in the Washington Unified School District boost their literacy skills, by providing them with new English-Farsi books. Douglas Ismail, President of the California Masonic Foundation and Michelle Torgerson, President and CEO of Raising a Reader talk about how this book collection came to be, and the impact it will have on the local Afghan community in West Sacramento.