In a nutshell, the device converts electrical signals sent to the visual cortex into images that can be viewed on a computer screen. In their experiment, they showed test subjects the six letters in the word neuron and succeeded in reconstructing the word on screen by measuring their brain activity. As the technology progresses, it could be possible to "see" what people are thinking, what they dream about and record it for posterity. What do you think? Would that be awesome or scary as hell? All I know is that image weirds me out. [Yahoo Image via Pink Tentacle Thanks Roger!]

Respondents to the survey kept a dream diary, which was found to match their general conception of the types of dreams had closely. And in an intersesting and somewhat depressing side note, most research shows that before the dawn of TV and films, most dreams were in color.

I distinctly remember asking my dad when I was young if the world was all in black and white when he was a kid—black and white and full of jerky sped-up motion and with everyone wearing suits and hats. The medium is the message, even in dreams. [Telegraph, image: Robert Frank, the Americans]

Its head will be controlled by the eye position of the subject, e.g. if you're eyes are looking left, Sleep Waking will move its head to the left. The second behavioral control will rely on EEG information. Using an algorithm, the creators discovered a set of brainwave patterns, to each pattern a pre-programmed behavior was assigned. When a match is made with the EEG readout, Sleep Waking will carry out the designated action.

The creators hope that their work is seen as a vision of the future, where one's dreams are able to be enacted accurately, and dream scenarios are recorded just as photos are now. It's an interesting concept, and we want whatever Fernando and Brendan are drinking, but our dreams are most likely to get us into a whole lot of trouble. Some things are just best left inside the old brain chamber. Frankly, what we did to that elf woman/unicorn in our dream time would surely have us dumped for obvious reasons, fired for doing it whilst we should have been at dream work, arrested for violating bestiality laws and punched in the wiener because Mr Elf/Unicorn was thoroughly displeased in reality. Man, that dream was tripping. You can catch Sleep Waking on February 16th at the Exit Art exhibition. [We Make Money Not Art]

The mask has built-in LEDs that blink at night to remind your sleeping self that you're in fact dreaming. Supposedly, that "awareness" is what lets you control your dream. Will it work, probably not. And with its $200 starting price, I wouldn't recommend you try one either. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Gadget Lab]