5/11/2017 2:01:00 PM
“… and it tells us if there’s an increase or decrease of oxygenation in that area of the brain,” Dr. Hasan Ayaz was saying, holding up what looked like a neoprene scuba hood covered in plastic nodes and protruding wires. It reminded me of Doc Brown’s mind-reading helmet in Back to the Future. I tried to picture Ayaz with bug eyes and his hair grown out to mad-scientist wildness, but he’s a real-life scientist in Drexel University’s biomedical engineering department, with a firm handshake, a neatly trimmed dark beard, and designer eyeglasses. And, as my mind wandered to movie scientists, he’d been talking in measured tones about how the space-age scuba hood in his hands—as well as an equally sci-fi node-covered headband connected to another monitor nearby—can show him whether its wearer is engaged or disengaged in what he or she is doing; if the wearer is really listening to a lecture, say, or if her thoughts have wandered off …
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