iBrain knows what you're thinking

New York Times writes.

Dubbed the iBrain, this simple-looking contraption is part of an experiment that aims to allow Hawking - long paralysed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease - to communicate by merely thinking.

The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnoea, depression and autism.

The Atlantic Wire says the device consists of a "miniature electronics box attached to a light and flexible elastic head harness and electrodes that can effortlessly be applied to the head during sleep”.

It then uses what the company has named the 'SPEARS algorithm' to collect and analyse the data in a simpler way than other brain-wave collecting machines.

The whole experiment is stunningly futuristic, and breaths new hope into technologies that can help patients with ALS, or even those with locked-in syndrome, communicate better, Beta Beat notes.