US scientists have unveiled a shocking new brain implant that lets users see and read other people's thoughts.
The team, based out of California Institute of Technology , had been building devices to help patients with speech and non-verbal disorders.The brain chip - also referred to as a brain-machine interface - essentially "translated" brain waves "into text in real time". “We captured neural activity associated with internal speech — words said within the mind with no associated movement or audio output,” the team wrote in a Nature study published yesterday.
When testing the technology on two participants, researchers attached electrodes to a portion of the brain’s supramarginal gyrus — a crucial part for understanding and processing language.Participants were shown a visual or spoken prompt and asked to think of the word demonstrated — such as spoon, python or battlefield, according to the Daily Mail.Brain implants and mind-reading used to be concepts for science fiction or crystal ball-wielding psychics.