This is cool. A Ph.D. has invented a mechanism for reading the electromagnetic current that comes from your throat when you’re just thinking about saying words. It’s called subvocal speech recognition and I can see the future: people dictating notes to their computers or talking on their cell phones without disturbing anyone else, even in a crowded meeting room or a bus or airplane.

One guy in Japan is even working on a subvocal cell phone that works by putting sensors on your fingers and thumb against your face. And I just saw on Animal Planet that they’ve inserted a piece into a deaf dog’s skull and attached a hearing device to it–the dog can hear again. I remember joking last year that one day we’d be exchanging thoughts through metal plates in our heads.

Judging by this stuff, that day’s not far off.