A two-way mind-machine interface with a remote device might some day begin to redefine how we perceive and interact with our environment.

“One day, you could be sitting in an office and controlling a device from across the room — or in another building,” says Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University Medical Center. “And it’s not just flicking a switch. It could be a nanotool that’s moving through a tiny environment, and you can control it and see what it sees.”