Your thoughts can now be read, as 62-year-old paralysed man sends tweet through brain

Owing to a tiny brain implant the size of a paperclip, a paralysed man in Australia has become the first person to tweet a message via direct thinking.

'No need for keystrokes or voices,' said Philip O'Keefe, 62, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has left him unable to move his upper limbs. I came up with this tweet simply by thinking about it.' #helloworldbci

On December 23, he successfully converted his direct idea to text utilising the Stentrode brain computer interface (BCI). He was diagnosed with ALS, a kind of Motor Neuron Disease, in 2015.

The interface, developed by Synchron, a neurovascular bioelectronics medicine business based in California, enables people to do tasks on a computer simply by thinking about them.

Your thoughts can now be read, as 62-year-old paralysed man sends tweet through brain

'When I first heard about this technology, I realized how much independence it could give me back,' Mr O'Keefe said.

'The method is incredible; it's like learning to ride a bike: it takes some practice, but once you get going, it's second nature.'

'Now, all I have to do is think about where I want to click on the computer, and I can email, bank, shop, and now communicate the rest of the world via Twitter.'

Since then, he's been using technology to interact with his family and business associates, maintaining email correspondence and being active in his consulting and other commercial endeavours.

'These lighthearted holiday tweets are truly a watershed event for the field of implantable brain computer interfaces,' Mr Oxley added.

'They emphasise the sense of connection, hope, and freedom that BCIs provide to persons like Phil, who have lost so much of their functional ability owing to crippling paralysis.'

'We are excited to advance Stentrode, our brain computer interface, in the first in-human research in the United States next year.'