The research into the human brain has been advancing so rapidly in recent months that eventually the military woul have to look into the subject. After all, if gamers are being given the opportunity to overclock their brains, then chances are that the Department of Defense will find some use for the same sort of tech.

As it turns out, the military is less interested in frying people's brains and more interested in reading their thoughts. A newly-unearthed DARPA grant competition from this spring shows the military construct's goal: the development of a cheap mind-reading headset which can feed EEG data from its wearer to a smartphone app.

EEG readings are the basis for a number of consumer products which allow users to control objects with their minds. Thinker Thing, for instance, lets its user imagine and then 3D print creatures straight out of their imagination. But that's not exactly a military application of the tech.