This device wiretaps your 'second brain'

PLUS: Apple axes jobs, in a rare move

AuthorAuthor

Jennifer Mossalgue & Rowan Cheung
November 25, 2025

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Your gut, or “second brain,” just got wiretapped — by a hair-thin implant that listens in on real-time neural traffic between belly and brain, without damaging the tissue that keeps you alive.

It’s a tiny device with an intriguing promise: cracking open one of biology’s most cryptic conversations, and maybe rewriting how we diagnose the body from the inside out.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Scientists decode brain-gut connection

  • Apple’s sales team hit by rare layoffs

  • McKinsey: This is how AI is changing work

  • Tesla says its next AI chip is almost ready

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

BIOTECH RESEARCH

Image source: University of Cambridge

The Rundown: University of Cambridge and Dartmouth researchers just built a soft, hair-thin implant that slips between layers of the colon to tap directly into the enteric nervous system, the “second brain” linking gut and brain.

The details:

  • The nano-device records real-time electrical signals traveling between the gut and the brain for up to two weeks, tested so far in rodents and pigs.

  • Packed with 600M neurons across at least 20 cell types, the enteric nervous system choreographs gut motion, secretion, and local immune responses.

  • Because the implant sits in constantly moving tissue without damaging it, it can track how the system responds to stress, food, or disease over time.

  • This could open the door to a new class of bioelectronic diagnostics and treatments for conditions like bowel disease to neurological disorders.

Why it matters: Scientists are untangling how the gut’s microbiome shapes mental health and disease, as evidence mounts that brain-gut signals are more powerful than once believed. Now researchers can eavesdrop on live neural traffic between the two, opening a window into one of biology’s most crucial — and mysterious — conversations.

APPLE

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Apple just carried out a rare round of layoffs, cutting dozens of roles across its global sales organization in a restructuring move, as first reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The details:

  • The axe fell on account managers handling major corporate, school, and government accounts, plus staff running Apple’s enterprise briefing centers.

  • Management broke the news over the past couple of weeks, with employees saying the cuts blindsided them, given Apple’s famous aversion to layoffs.

  • Apple says the restructuring is meant to “streamline” how it reaches customers and strengthen engagement, while insisting it is still hiring.

Why it matters: While Meta, Google, and Amazon slashed tens of thousands of jobs in 2023–2024, Apple mostly sidestepped the carnage, limiting cuts to specific projects. These layoffs remain minor compared to Apple’s total workforce, but notable in that the tech giant looks to generate record sales of $140B in the December quarter.

MCKINSEY

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: McKinsey dropped its AI jobs verdict: algorithms could swallow 57% of U.S. work hours. But before you panic-update your résumé, they say the future isn’t about machines replacing you, it’s about you becoming their conductor.

The details:

  • McKinsey pegs AI’s potential economic value at $2.9T in the U.S. by 2030 — but only if organizations redesign workflows for human-machine collaboration.

  • More than 70% of the skills employers look for today are shared across both automatable and non-automatable roles, so there’s a large overlap.

  • However, certain specialized cognitive skills — routine accounting, data entry, simple coding — face the biggest hit.

  • Demand for “AI fluency” has grown sevenfold in two years, making it the fastest-growing skill in U.S. job postings.

Why it matters: The shift from execution to orchestration means your job probably survives, but only if you can pivot fast enough to manage the machines instead of mimicking them. Jobs demanding judgment, empathy, and social intelligence stay human, at least until the next breakthrough proves otherwise.

TESLA

Image source: Tesla

The Rundown: Tesla is nearing the final design stage for its next-gen AI5 chip, which will power future robotaxis, AI-driven vehicles, and the company’s forthcoming humanoids, reports Bloomberg.

The details:

  • The AI5 chip, set to deliver 5x the compute of Tesla’s current in-car hardware, will roll out first in small volumes and then in mass production by 2027.

  • CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company’s goal is to launch one new AI chip design for mass production every year.

  • He says the company is aiming for a “tape-out” — or final design — on the AI5 chip, with work on the more advanced AI6 chip already underway.

  • The Tesla AI5 chip will be manufactured by both Samsung at its advanced facility in Taylor, Texas, and TSMC at its new plant in Arizona.

Why it matters: Like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, Tesla is investing in its own AI chips as an alternative to Nvidia. Like Apple’s custom chip, Tesla’s edge is vertical integration — chips tailor-made for its own hardware — betting that custom silicon can outpace general-purpose rivals in its robotaxis, driver assistance, and humanoids.

QUICK HITS

Tech giant Xiaomi’s EV arm reached profitability in just 19 months, nearly five years ahead of Tesla by capitalizing on its huge consumer base in electronics.

Alphabet closed in on a $4T valuation on Monday as its shares jumped more than 5% to a record $315.90, lifting its market cap to about $3.82T.

Tesla said that Dutch regulator RDW was nearing approval of its Full Self-Driving software by February 2026, but RDW clarified that it had only scheduled a demo.

The Trump administration shut down the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a controversial cost‑cutting unit once led by Elon Musk.

Drug maker Novo Nordisk says that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, failed in two large trials to slow Alzheimer’s disease progression.

Amazon plans to invest about $15B in new data center campuses in Northern Indiana, adding 2.4 gigawatts of capacity and creating roughly 1,100 jobs.

NASA renegotiated its Starliner contract with Boeing so that the capsule’s next mission to the International Space Station will fly as a cargo-only test flight.

Nuclear startup X-energy raised $700M, bringing its year’s total to $1.4B, to build the supply chain for its small modular reactors, with 144 orders in place.

The White House reportedly suspended a draft executive order that aimed to override state AI laws and threaten federal funds for states with strict regulations.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

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