This article from CNNhealth.com entitled "Brain-Twitter Project offers Hope to Paralyzed Patients," reports that Adam Wilson, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, is working on tweeting using brain waves.His lab has developed a way to post messages on Twitter using electrical impulses generated by thought. That's right, no keyboards, just a red cap fitted with electrodes that monitor brain activity, hooked up to a computer flashing letters on a screen. Wilson sent the messages by concentrating on the letters he wanted to "type," then focusing on the word "twit" at the bottom of the screen to post the message.
There is much speculation about how this technology could possibly be used both in the medical field and commercially. The immediate use for this development could be to enable communication with those suffering from "locked-in syndrome" in which the brain functions normally although the body is unable to communicate with the brain so the patients cannot speak or move. It is these little steps in technology that will develop drastically in the next 5-10 years or less. Perhaps soon we would not even need to touch the screen to communicate with others. Ah, the power of the brain... crave the brain waves :)
