You know I love milk just as much as the next American.
I'm not sure I love it this much, though.
From Sentient:
Although much of the technology remains speculative, the Russian company Neiry claims to have directly implanted neural devices in the brains of dairy cows to stimulate lactation on demand.
‘When a cow's appetite decreases, the system automatically adjusts the neuromodulation mode to restore it,' the company said in a September 2025 announcement that it had surgically placed electrodes into five cows. ‘The stimulator's electronic unit is attached to the back of the animal's head, with electrodes reaching deep into specific brain regions — including those responsible for reproductive functions.'
Me when I find out the milk in my cereal comes from a "neuromodulated" cow:
The company's findings "have not been independently verified," so it could be this is all just a bunch of speculation. Neiry "claims that the implantation has a 100% survival rate," though similar experiments have left hundreds of animals dead.
Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical of how optimistic it all seems:
The company said in its announcement that the cows that received the initial neurostimulation devices ‘remained conscious, felt well, experienced no discomfort, and have already returned to their normal production cycles on the farm.' It did not detail how the devices were implanted, what research went into designing them or what animal welfare precautions were taken.
More interesting still is just how such a device would affect cows in the first place.
One ethicist interviewed by Sentient said the device could function where "[the cow] actually feels like it's being controlled by some external force," or else it might "sort of be tricked into thinking it's making a decision itself."
Cows, of course, can't exactly tell you if they feel like they're making a decision one way or the other. But similar trials on humans have produced mixed results:
How or whether [deep brain stimulation] affects the psychological states of patients is a subject of rigorous investigation. One study of 17 patients with Parkinson's disease who received DBS found that some felt their identities had shifted. One patient developed medically diagnosed mania and increased impulsivity, while others described a feeling of ‘self-estrangement' and sense of loss of control. Notably, the study found that some patients felt their identities had been "restored."
I'll continue to take my milk un-modulated for now, thank you!
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