My jaw hit the floor tonight watching a 60 Minutes segment on the emerging neuroscience of brain-only computer interfaces. In the clip (included in full below), see how a completely paralyzed man, who could otherwise only communicate by moving his eyes, uses his mind to type out thoughts on a computer screen. Of course, the process is very slow going—each letter takes up to 20 seconds to type. Reporter Scott Pelley donned the controller skull cap, and watched a screen of flashing letters to try it out himself. When the letter he was thinking of highlighted, he'd think "that's it!" and that signal of recognition would type the letter on-screen. Neuroscientists have even gotten as far as to embed a chip inside a monkey's brain, and figured out what brain activity signals that the monkey is trying to move its arm in what direction. Hit the clip below to watch this monkey control a robotic arm with only its thoughts.Click to view This is the seed of my most-wanted, dream computer interface, one that doesn't involve pecking at keys. Imagine a day when, like speech recognition, thought recognition becomes possible, and you can narrate your thoughts to your computer or handheld device. Maybe 30 years down the road, our kids will be riding the subway with their iPhone-like device's headphones plugged in, getting new email read to them, and narrating their responses back only with their minds. Awesome.


Brain Power Video [CBS News 60 Minutes]