The U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) has identified the latest fifth generation U.S. fighters such as the stealthy F-22 Raptor as the first weapons to be controlled by human thought.

This advance is made possible by the recent invention of the "stentrode" by Australian scientists from the University of Melbourne. The research that led to the development of this weapon was partly funded by DARPA.

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The size of a matchstick, the stentrode can provide the "brain-machine interface" or BMI necessary for thought-controlled devices. Neural implants currently in use require invasive surgery.

Stentrodes can be attached to the brain using catheter angiography. This procedure passes the device through blood vessels in the neck and into the brain without cutting open the skull.

Development of the minimally invasive stentrode is a key step in the widespread use of thought-controlled devices such as prosthetics and weapons.

"The military appear interested in the potential for jet fighters to control their planes with direct thought control, rather than using their arms. The reaction time you'd shave off would be milliseconds," said Dr. Tom Oxley, the University of Melbourne Neurologist whose team has been working on the stentrode for over four years.

More specifically, DARPA wants U.S. Air Force pilots to control their fighters directly by plugging their brains into the aircraft's computer, said Dr. Oxley. The stentrode will make this possible.

He said doing so will reduce piloting stress since flying computer-controlled aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35 Lightning II is physically taxing and requires the pilot evaluate and monitor several actions occurring at once. A direct BMI could reduce pilot error.

With a BMI such as the stentrode, a fighter pilot's brain will tell the muscles in the pilot's hands to take an action with the joystick when the pilot recognizes a problem.

DARPA also plans to use stentrodes to rehabilitate soldiers that have been paralyzed in combat. Electrical signals detected by the stentrode can communicate with the "soft exosuits" being developed by DARPA. Wounded soldiers will simply have to think of a movement to make it happen.

The next breakthrough, said Dr. Oxley, is direct brain-to-brain communication.

"Direct brain-to-brain telecommunication is not unfeasible 30 years from now. These devices will enable us to achieve electronic capabilities that we can't really imagine now."

There's also telepathy.

"Now imagine if that little device (the stentrode) was inside your brain and you didn't have to use your hands to type out the letters of the text message. Suddenly what you're achieving is considered telepathy," said Oxley.

TagsDefense Advanced Projects Research Agency, DARPA, F-22 Raptor, U.S. Air Force, Dr. Tom Oxley