Direct brain-to-brain communication is a key goal of DARPA’s $24 million Brain Machine Interface program — almost 10% of DARPA’s basic research budget, according to a Nature June 19 article.

Research also includes:

* A Silicon chip to replace parts of the brain (the hippocampus is first).

* Reminiscent of The Matrix, memory implants to allow pilots to perform moves they may not actually have learned through traditional training and to detect that a pilot was about to make an error and override his actions.

* Images sent directly to the brains of military personnel. When they decide how to act on the information they receive, electrodes in their brains would decipher their decisions and relay them to the minds of their colleagues.