Painting With Your Brain

New frontiers are always being explored in the art world. But this one's different: rather than doing something new to explore the human condition, it changes that condition entirely. A new kind of software allows people— particularly those with progressive neuronal disorders or "locked-in syndrome"— to paint pictures using nothing but their minds. Users don a cap reminiscent of something from the Tron world and then simply think toward the tools they want to use and lines they want to draw. Right now, it can take hours to draw a simple vase of flowers. But scientists are hoping for more advances —toward both helping people create art and learning about the brain itself.