<strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Call for ethical debate over possible use of new technology in interrogation</font></strong>

<em><font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">Ian Sample, science correspondent</font><font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329710503-117700,00.html" target="_blank">Guardian</a></font></em><font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2"><em> 9February, 2007</em></font>

<font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">A team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act.</font>

<font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists' ability to probe people's minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future.</font>

<font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">The team used high-resolution brain scans to identify patterns of activity before translating them into meaningful thoughts, revealing what a person planned to do in the near future. It is the first time scientists have succeeded in reading intentions in this way.</font>

...<font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2">"A lot of neuroscientists in the field are very cautious and say we can't talk about reading individuals' minds, and right now that is very true, but we're moving ahead so rapidly, it's not going to be that long before we will be able to tell whether someone's making up a story, or whether someone intended to do a crime with a certain degree of certainty."</font>

<em><font face="Geneva,Arial,sans-serif" size="2"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329710503-117700,00.html" target="_blank">Full story</a></font></em>