Now this is some potentially creepy technology - scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have managed to decode and reconstruct people's dynamic visual experiences. What does that mean? Essentially, they can scan people's brains and get a fair copy of whatever it is they're looking at.

Naturally enough for a university in the same state as Hollywood, they used movie trailers (mixed with other footage) to test the technology. Check out this side-by-side comparison video:

The researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and computational models to reconstruct the visual images and turn them into movies. At the moment, the technology can only reproduce images people have already seen, but in the future it may be capable of reproducing dreams and memories, according to researchers.

Eventually, doctors may be able to use the tech to get a better understanding of what's happening in the minds of stroke victims, coma patients and people with neurodegenerative diseases, and possibly to help the paralyzed guide computers with their minds. These applications are probably a long way off, though: while the new technology is a big step, the researchers still can't decode brain signals in naturalistic settings.

Alongside these important possible medical applications, it seems almost certain that at least one band will want to use the technology sometime soon to create a music video showcasing an eerie, dystopian vision of the future. After all, they've done it before: