A perfect demonstration of this is a research partnership between scientists at the University of California San Francisco, who want to help disabled patients speak again, and Facebook, which is pursuing technologies that would allow the general population to type words with their mind. This collaboration has now produced an exciting breakthrough, demonstrating technology that for the first time, decodes brainwaves as words and phrases in real time.

For healthy people (and for better or for worse), there isn't a huge leap between the thoughts we'd like to share and the words that come out of our mouths. But it is a very different story for people who have suffered a stroke, a spinal cord injury or a brain disease that can impede their ability to speak.