Among the many tech tricks and gizmos demonstrated at the CeBit trade show this year is a ‘mental typewriter’ system which allows a user to type by moving a cursor with thought alone. Designed with medical applications in mind, the games industry is going to be all over this like a rash once it becomes cost-effective, and the military boffins will probably be pretty keen also.

Researchers at Oregon State University have created the world’s first completely transparent integrated circuit from inorganic compounds. This opens the door for a whole gamut of applications, from displays integrated into vehicle screens to personal optical devices. Those Gibsonesque cybershades may not be a pipedream after all.

Optical fiber is great for carrying data; silicon is great at processing it. The tricky bit can be interfacing between the two technologies. A joint UK/US team has taken the first steps toward solving this problem by creating optical fibers with silicon semiconductor devices built into the signal path.

Robotic limbs and prosthetics are a great idea – but they really burn up a lot of power, and hence stay tied to a power source. Ray Baughman, a nanotechnologist at the University of Texas at Dallas, is addressing this problem by developing artificial muscles powered by methanol reactions at the nanoscale.