Why Elon Musk, MIT and a 16-Year-Old Inventor Are Going After Mind-Reading Technology

Merging the human brain with a computer would change our species forever. Researchers are developing technology that can transfer data between computers and our brains. It could even read people’s minds.

For now, we have the power to detect brain waves and track electrical pulses within the neurons in our brains. Researchers are using this information to aid the differently abled and make life easier for everyone. Among these researchers is 16-year-old Alex Pinkerton.

In the 1970s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency first starting funding brain-computer interface research. That market is expected to reach a value of $1.72 billion by 2022, according to Grand View Research.

Big players like Elon Musk and Facebook have teased their entrance into the market, while other companies are showing their work in action. CTRL Labs created a wristband that measures electrical pulses from the brain to the neurons in a person’s arm, allowing them to control a computer. And new and exciting research is pouring out of universities like MIT and the University of California in San Francisco.

It may be decades before we’re able to transmit our complex thoughts into data through a computer, but watch the video to learn how a 16 year old is using graphene to bring us closer to that reality.