A research scientist at MIT has developed a machine which can read the pages of a closed book.

Barmak Heshmat says the scanner uses terahertz waves - a type of radiation situated on the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light - to read a stack of papers with a single letter handwritten on each page.

The $100,000 device works by directing ultrashort bursts of terahertz radiation at stacks of paper.

Some of it is absorbed by the paper, but the remainder is reflected back.

The signals that bounce back are then analysed using computer algorithms which can discern individual letters.

The device, called a terahertz spectrometer, managed to clearly read only nine pages, though it could see writing on up to 20.

Researchers say the system could someday be used by museums to scan the contents of old books too fragile to handle or to examine paintings to confirm their authenticity or understand the artist's creative process.

While the device is still a long way from reading an entire book, the team is already talking with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York about using it to inspect some of its artworks and antique volumes.