Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have developed a brain-computer interface that allows one to post Tweets just by thinking, similar to what a couple new commercial headsets do in the worlds of gaming and wheel-chair control. Researchers believe the technology could help individuals with spinal cord injury or locked-in syndrome lead a more normal life.

The interface consists, essentially, of a keyboard displayed on a computer screen. “The way this works is that all the letters come up, and each one of them flashes individually,” says Williams. “And what your brain does is, if you’re looking at the ‘R’ on the screen and all the other letters are flashing, nothing happens. But when the ‘R’ flashes, your brain says, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Something’s different about what I was just paying attention to.’ And you see a momentary change in brain activity.”

Tweets are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other Twitter users who have signed up to receive them. “So, someone could simply tell family and friends how they’re feeling today,” says Williams. “People at the other end can be following their thread and never know that the person is disabled. That would really be an enabling type of communication means for those people—and I think it would make them feel, in the online world, that they’re not that much different from everybody else.”