Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany have created a “mental typewriter”.

The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor.  A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain and they imagine using their left or right arm in order to maneuver the cursor around.

Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognize activity in the area of a person’s motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement.

The number of uses for this type of technology is literally incalculably.