What it does is take precise measurements of the levels of neurological activity in a brain.

No, this brush is not a mind-reader in the psychic sense.

It's designed to provide increased sensitivity with fiber tips that thread through hair to increase direct scalp contact.

which images blood flowing through the brain and measures the difference of levels of oxygen in the blood in order to evaluate mental activity.

Technology already exists to track your mental activity. It's called functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS),

The technique is much more accurate when its sensors can actually touch the scalp.

But it has a major drawback: it's usually impaired by hair.

That's why researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and University of Texas at Arlington have been working on a device that is essentially a hairbrush that can measure and monitor brain activity.

The device is officially known as a "brush optrode," which uses that same fNIRS technology, but in a way no other device has been able to up to this point.

He says, "It is easy for a patient's hair to get in the way and block the signal" with conventional fNIRS technology. "So we developed a new tip for the fNIRS fibers -- a brush optrode that slides the fibers between the hair follicles. Signal levels increase three to five-fold, and patients report that the brush optrode is considerably more comfortable than the conventional fiber ends."

Duncan MacFarlane is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas, and one of the lead researchers on this project.