Nowhere to hide: “We can tell you if you’re guilty or innocent. You can’t fool the lie detector that knows what you are thinking.”

You have just been arrested on suspicion of murder. You’re sweating it out in the interrogation room with a pair of beefy detectives. But your lips are sealed–you know your rights.

Then with a smirk they slip a thing like a hairnet covered in dozens of tiny electrodes over your head and sit you down in front of a computer. Pictures of the crime scene begin to flash up on the screen interspersed with multiple-choice questions.

Flash! A photo of a brick wall. Flash! “What lies behind this wall?” Flash! “Cement and blacktop?” Flash! “Sand and gravel?”

Flash! “Weeds and grass?”

You said nothing. You were even trying not to think. But sorry buddy, your brain just gave you away. It couldn’t help but show an electrical start of recognition at the image matching the memory of hurdling a wall and wading through a backyard of weeds as you fled. New Scientist