A recent post claims that Japanese scientists have discovered how to extract images directly from one's brain.
The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.
Sometimes I feel like everything important that needs to be developed has been already, but stories like this renew my hope in what lies ahead. Even if we understand how MRI works, we are still far away from understanding how the human brain functions. I can't imagine how such technology will develop over the next 10 - 20 years.
(Image Source: PinkTentacle)