MANIPULATING THE WORLD WITH THOUGHT ALONE
Being able to move and control physical objects with your mind would certainly save you quite a bit of effort in your day-to-day life, but unfortunately, telekinesis is only the work of science fiction.
However, with a bit of intervention from technology, brainpower can be harnessed to perform all sorts of useful functions.
This real-life superpower is made possible by attaching electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to the scalp, which can measure brain activity. When you concentrate on an object, your brain’s prefrontal lobe, located just behind your forehead, fires neurons which create electromagnetic waves. These waves are strong enough to induce a voltage in EEG sensors, which can be interpreted by a computer algorithm and translated into electronic commands for a connected device.
The aerospace tech firm Tekever is currently using this technology to fly drones using just the power of thought. Pilots wearing EEG skullcaps train their brain to think about moving a small circle on a computer screen up to turn the drone left or down to turn it right. The sensors then detect the activity occurring in specific parts of the brain to issue instructions to the software that controls the drone.
The company hopes that one day this technology could be used to control much larger aircraft to help reduce the workload of pilots and also to enable physically disabled people to fly an aircraft.