There are many reasons to look back fondly on the eighties. Shoulder pads; crimped hair; awesome movie soundtracks. And major advances in all things neuroscience.

To be fair, I should mention that back then there was a near total lack of regulation regarding the use of lab animals. But while this does raise some pretty serious ethical issues, it was certainly conducive to the development of the first brain-computer interface.

Want to communicate with your computer through thought? Send a telepathic message to someone with wires in their skull? Control robots with your mind?  With the BCI, you may not have to wait much longer. 

Host: Brit Trogen

_{Photo credits: Wikimedia users Coltmaverick, Richard, Freeimages.co.uk, SdeVries, GSerrano, Gearlog, Sfn.org, University of Pittsburg, University of Wisconsin, Read Montague, Bill Diodato, Aldemar Torres, Emotiv Systems}

_References:

_{http://www.topbits.com/brain-computer-interface.html}

_{http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006102637.htm}

_{http://www.physorg.com/news186904687.html}

_{http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/worlds-first-commercial-brain-computer-interface}