Scientist controls colleague's hand in first human brain-to-brain interface

"University of Washington scientists Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco claim that they are the first to demonstrate human brain-to-brain communication. Rao sent a signal into a Stocco's brain via the Internet that caused him to move his right hand. Brain-to-brain communication has previously been demonstrated between rats and from humans to rats.

Rao spent time training his mind, with feedback from the computer, to emit the brainwave for moving the right hand so that it could be detected by the computer. "The intention can be as detectable as the movement itself," Prat said. "Brain-computer interfaces have been capturing this with increasing accuracy over the last decade."

When the software sees the right signal it is sent via the Internet to a computer connected to a transcranial magnetic stimulation device, which is positioned on the exact spot of the brain that controls the right hand. "It uses simple physics," Prat said. "When the magnetic field changes, it induces an electrical current, so a signal is sent through the cortex of the brain and excites the neurons, simulating what happens naturally."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57600284-76/scientist-controls-colleagues-hand-in-first-human-brain-to-brain-interface/

"Other research teams have previously established brain-to-brain links: Earlier this year, one team announced that they hooked up the brains of two lab rats in North Carolina and Brazil to swap brain signals. Another team set up a connection that made it possible for a human to wiggle a sleeping rat's tail. Yet another project has resulted in a brain-cap system for monkeys that can read almost 2,000 channels simultaneously — which is just about enough processing power to control a full-body exoskeleton."

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/mind-meld-scientist-uses-his-brain-control-another-guys-finger-8C11015078