The Telepathic Helmet

Label: Gadgets, Technology The days of keeping your thoughts to yourself may be numbered, as scientists in Switzerland have begun developing a machine that can actually read minds. Adapting the same thought-reading technology that allows paralysis victims to type with their brains, the Swiss managed to go a few steps further, creating a helmet that's, uh, totally mental.

The Telepathic Helmet picks up the thoughts of the wearer, sending them to a computer, which writes them out on the monitor. Although the technology isn't perfect — using it while hungry leads to stray thoughts about food getting jumbled in, apparently — it represents a big leap forward in mind-reading tech. Also in the works is getting the helmet to create pictures from thoughts, though the experiments so far can only discern whether the person is thinking about a big bright blur or a big dark blur.

Scary stuff, to be sure — not for the Big Brother potential, but because I don't know if I want to live in a world where Jack Bauer won't have to interrogate people anymore.