BBC prototypes mind-controlled TV

In this week's worldwide wrap: mind-controlled technology is slowly becoming a reality, including mind-controlled TV in the UK, and ideas for mind-reading smart cars.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) yesterday revealed an internal prototype of a "mind-controlled" TV headset which allows users to open the BBC's video-on-demand service using only brainwaves.

Cyrus Saihan, BBC Digital's head of business development, said the prototype held promise for users with disabilities.
Via: Mashable

Jaguar Land Rover is looking to brain wave monitoring as a possible solution for distracted driving.

The company is developing a technology called Mind Sense, which aims to monitor drivers' brain waves and issue audio-visual or tactile warnings if it finds the driver is not sufficiently focused.
Via: Mashable

Londoner Nicky Ashwell, 29, born without a right hand, has been fitted with what is described as the "world's most lifelike bionic hand," engineered by prosthetic experts Steeper.

Ted Varley, technical director at Steeper, says that "in other myoelectric hands the technology is developed first, at the expense of the life-likeness," whereas this hand's skeletal structure was developed first, and the technology built around it in order to maintain anatomical accuracy.

"The movements now come easily and look natural," says Ashwell. "I've been able to do things never before possible like riding a bike and lifting weights."
Via: The Guardian

Researchers have developed flexible, "stretchy" batteries which could be ideal for powering a range of wearable devices.

Hanqing Jiang, associate professor mechanical and aerospace engineering at Arizona State University, was inspired by origami in designing the invention.
Via: LiveScience

Researchers at Columbia University in New York have developed what they describe as "the world's thinnest light bulb".

The light-emitting graphene transistor, which works in the same way as a traditional lightbulb filament, could enable photonic circuits running on light instead of electric current.
Via: LiveScience

Sensors and transmitters attached to the heads of elephant seals have gathered over 400 000 data profiles on the temperature and density of sea water over the past 10 years.

Researchers at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, are sharing the data via an open Web portal in the hope to create a better understanding of how oceans are affected by climate change.
Via: The Guardian