Just when you thought your privacy couldn't be invaded anymore, a team of researchers are working on a device for NASA that would be able to detect brain injury, stress, fatigue and depression.
The brain cap sends weak pulses of near-infrared light into the brain, then analyzes the reflected wavelengths. The results reveals how much oxygen is in the brain's blood, which is a gauge of it's activity (is that why I like to do hand stands?). The psychiatrist who is developing the scanner, Gary Strangman, said that he and others are already using the device on Earth-bound patients.
Now don't get me wrong, I love new science gizmos as much as the next person, but as useful as it would be to know if your captain is alert enough for a complex docking maneuver it just seems like one step closer to that dystopian future all those sci-fi writers were warning us about. We must proceed with caution and utmost care.
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