System Lets People Use Computer Just by Thinking
From: Nikkei Weekly - 01/23/2006 - Vol. 44, No. 2218, P. 17 

Researchers at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) have
created a computer operating system that can read a user's brain waves and
manipulate the cursor accordingly. An electroencephalograph, which monitors
the electrical activity of the brain, and roughly 200 electrodes placed on a
user's head link to software that synthesizes the data and moves the cursor.
Though brain waves are typically created by an action such as speech or
movement, people can be trained to trigger that same brain activity simply by
intending to perform an action. The Riken team expects the research to
improve the accessibility of computers for handicapped people. The
researchers matched each signal to appear from moving a part of the body with
a particular movement of the cursor. This way, a user's intention to move his
right hand would consistently move the cursor in the same direction. When
conducting tests of people who had been trained to produce brain waves merely
by intending to make a motion, the researchers reported that the cursor moved
at an accuracy rate of 70 percent to 80 percent.  

Links:
Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
http://www.riken.go.jp/engn/index.html

Laboratory for Advanced Brain Signal Processing
http://www.bsp.brain.riken.jp/index.php

Developing Tools for Analyzing Brain Signals
Operating a computer by brainwaves
http://www.riken.jp/engn/r-world/info/release/news/2005/aug/index.html#frol_02