Can We Send Thoughts Like Text Messages? Scientists Prove Brain-to-Brain Communication Works

In 1865, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication, allowing people to exchange messages in minutes instead of days. The telephone followed, making real-time voice communication possible. Then came the internet, connecting people across the world through text, video, and instant messaging.

But what if the next revolution in communication doesn’t involve a device at all? Imagine a world where instead of typing or speaking, you could send a thought directly into someone else’s mind, no misunderstandings, no barriers, just pure, instant connection.

This idea may sound like science fiction, but it’s already scientific reality. Over the past decade, neuroscientists have successfully connected animal and human brains, transmitting thoughts, decisions, and even words from one person to another, without speaking or using a computer screen.

The question is no longer if brain-to-brain communication is possible, but how far can it go? And if we succeed, what will this mean for human relationships, privacy, and identity?

Why We Need Brain Communication

Despite all our technological advancements, human communication remains flawed. We rely on spoken and written language, yet words are often misinterpreted, emotionally detached, or ambiguous.

Consider how many misunderstandings happen in daily life:

• A text message that seems cold or distant because it lacks tone.
• A phone call where sarcasm is mistaken for seriousness.
• A conversation where language barriers prevent full understanding.

Studies show that up to 70% of human communication is nonverbal. Body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice often convey more meaning than words alone. Yet, we still depend on language to convey complex emotions and ideas​.

Meanwhile, computers don’t have this problem. They exchange information directly, rapidly, and without distortion. If two machines can communicate perfectly through wireless signals, why can’t two human brains?

This question has fascinated scientists for centuries. Philosophers like Descartes imagined telepathy as a future form of communication. In the 19th century, pseudoscientists conducted questionable experiments to prove the existence of “mind waves.”

While those early ideas lacked scientific credibility, modern neuroscience has turned this once-mythical concept into reality. And the first step toward proving this came not in humans, but in rats.

The First Brain-to-Brain Experiment

In the dim glow of his laboratory at Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis paced back and forth, staring at a monitor filled with tangled brainwave readings. He had spent years on a single, radical question:

“Could two brains be wired together, not just to share information but to act as one?”

Nicolelis wasn’t just any neuroscientist. He was a Brazilian-born pioneer in brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), best known for helping paralyzed patients control robotic limbs using only their minds. But this time, he wanted to go further.

What if two separate living brains could synchronize and exchange thoughts without words, without gestures, without any external interface? If computers could be networked together, why not brains?

His colleagues were skeptical. Even among neuroscientists, the idea of brain-to-brain communication sounded like science fiction. Yet, in early 2013, he and his team set out to prove it could be done.

The Experiment—Two Rats, One Shared Mind

Nicolelis chose an unusual test subject: rats. Unlike humans, their brains are simpler, their neural activity easier to interpret, and they respond reliably to rewards. If brain-to-brain communication works in rats, it could lay the foundation for more complex species, perhaps even humans.

His team implanted microelectrodes into the motor cortex of two rats, one in Durham, North Carolina, the other in Natal, Brazil​.

One rat, the “encoder”, was trained to press a lever in response to a visual cue. When it got the answer right, it received a food reward.

The second rat, the “decoder”, was in a separate cage thousands of miles away. It had no visual cues. Its only source of information was the direct brain signal sent from the first rat.

The First Telepathic Link

The team held their breath. The encoder rat pressed the lever, and at that exact moment, a signal was transmitted through the internet, into the brain of the decoder rat.

The second rat, without seeing anything and without any training, pressed the correct lever. Nicolelis and his team erupted in celebration.

“We have just witnessed the first intercontinental brain-to-brain interface,“ one of his colleagues shouted.

The experiment wasn’t perfect. The second rat got it right about 70% of the time, meaning something beyond random chance was guiding its decision. But the results were clear: one brain had successfully influenced another across thousands of miles. This wasn’t just a moment for neuroscience; it was a moment for history.

When Nicolelis published the results, the scientific world exploded with debate. Some hailed it as a revolutionary step toward neural communication, while others raised serious ethical concerns.

Nicolelis, however, remained focused. To him, this was just the beginning. He envisioned a future where brain networks, or “brainets,” could allow multiple minds to collaborate like a biological internet.

“One day, this could allow patients with locked-in syndrome to communicate. Or even help humans collaborate in ways we’ve never imagined.”

Miguel Nicolelis

But first, he had to prove it could work in humans.

From Rats to Humans

Nicolelis’ work set the stage for the first human brain-to-brain experiment, conducted just one year later at the University of Washington.

While his experiment used implanted electrodes, human studies would need to rely on non-invasive techniques like EEG and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Could humans achieve the same thought transmission without surgical implants?

The answer would come from a duo: Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco, who would take brain-to-brain communication from animal labs into the human world. The age of human telepathy was about to begin.

The First Human Brain-to-Brain Transmission

In 2014, at the University of Washington, two neuroscientists, Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco, were about to make history. They weren’t working on mind-reading, but something more radical: direct, brain-to-brain communication between two conscious humans.

Unlike Miguel Nicolelis’ rat experiment, which used surgically implanted electrodes, this experiment would be non-invasive, meaning no brain surgery or implants, just external devices that read and stimulate brain activity.

The idea was bold: Could one person’s thoughts control another person’s actions?

Stocco was nervous but excited. He had agreed to be the “receiver” in the experiment, while Rao would be the “sender.” If the experiment worked, Stocco’s body would respond to a command Rao merely thought of without Stocco being aware of it.

This was no magic trick. It was a high-stakes neuroscience experiment using electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to transfer thought-based signals between two living brains.

The setup was simple but revolutionary.

• Rao, the sender, sat in one lab with an EEG cap, which recorded electrical activity from his brain.
• Stocco, the receiver, sat across the university, wearing a TMS device positioned over his motor cortex—the area that controls movement.

The test was straightforward: Rao was instructed to imagine moving his right hand to press a keyboard button in front of him. However, he was not allowed to physically move it.

Instead, his EEG-detected brain signals were sent over the internet to Stocco’s TMS coil, which converted the signal into an electrical impulse. Suddenly, Stocco’s right index finger twitched and he involuntarily pressed the button in front of him.

The Moment That Changed Neuroscience

It was a moment of stunned silence. “Did that just happen?” Stocco asked, looking down at his hand. Rao and the research team erupted into excitement. The experiment had worked.

For the first time in history, a human brain had transmitted a command directly to another human brainwithout words, without gestures, without any physical interaction.

It wasn’t full telepathy, but it was something just as groundbreaking: the successful transmission of thought-based intent from one mind to another.

What This Meant for Science

The implications were staggering. If a simple motor command could be transmitted between brains, what about more complex forms of communication such as words, ideas, or emotions?

This experiment had proven that the human brain could send and receive information just like a computer network. The question now was: Could entire conversations happen this way?

That challenge was taken up by another group of researchers later in 2014.

How Scientists Sent Words Without Speech

Building on Rao and Stocco’s success with brain-to-brain interfaces, another team of researchers in late 2014 sought to push the limits of thought transmission technology. “If we can send movement, why not words?“ they asked.

The idea was simple: instead of controlling a person’s hand, could a brain directly transmit a simple “yes” or “no” response to another person without the need for speech?

To test this, researchers conducted an experiment published in PLOS ONE, using a similar EEG-to-TMS setup. One participant, the sender, was instructed to focus on specific words, such as “hola” or “ciao.” Their brain activity was recorded and converted into a binary code (yes/no responses), which was then transmitted over the internet to another participant, the receiver.

Rather than hearing or seeing the words, the receiver who had a TMS coil placed over their visual cortex experienced flashes of light (“phosphenes”) corresponding to the encoded message. By interpreting these flashes, the receiver was able to accurately decode the transmitted word.

This groundbreaking experiment marked a significant milestone: it was the first-ever direct exchange of meaningful information between human brains.

But it also raised an even bigger question: If two brains could communicate, could multiple brains be linked together to form a network?

The Birth of the Brain Network

In 2019, researchers at the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon introduced BrainNet, a groundbreaking system that linked three human brains in real-time​.

The experiment was designed around a Tetris-like game, where:

• Two participants (senders) watched a game screen and decided whether to rotate a falling block.
• Their brain signals were extracted via EEG and transmitted over the internet.
• A third participant (receiver) had no screen—instead, their brain received the senders’ decisions via direct neural stimulation using TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation).

The results were astounding: The team achieved 81.25% accuracy, proving that multiple human minds could share and process information together without speaking, seeing, or physically interacting.

Is This the First Step Toward Collective Intelligence?

The implications of BrainNet were both exciting and unsettling. Brain-to-brain communication had the potential to revolutionize fields such as healthcare, education, and global communication.

In medicine, this technology could provide a new means of communication for paralyzed individuals. Patients suffering from ALS, strokes, or locked-in syndrome could transmit messages just by thinking, eliminating the need for eye-tracking devices or muscle movements​

In education, knowledge transfer could happen directly between minds, bypassing traditional learning barriers. Imagine a teacher’s expertise being transmitted straight into a student’s brain, enabling them to grasp new concepts instantly.

However, while some scientists celebrated this breakthrough, others raised serious ethical concerns. If multiple minds could be connected, what would happen to individual autonomy? Would a networked mind blur the line between personal identity and collective thought?

This question led to an even greater dilemma: Could thoughts be hacked?

What If Thoughts Could Be Hacked?

As brain-to-brain interfaces (BBIs) advance, they bring exciting possibilities, but also serious ethical concerns. If thoughts can be transmitted, could they also be stolen or manipulated?

Right now, this technology remains controlled, voluntary, and limited. But what happens when someone can access your thoughts without permission?

Neuroethicists warn that brain-to-brain communication poses an even greater privacy risk than the internet. “You can delete an email. You can’t delete a thought someone else has received,” one expert noted​.

Here are some of the biggest concerns, including:

• Mind Hacking: Could governments or corporations extract thoughts without permission?
• Manipulation: Could advertisers implant subconscious desires?
• Loss of Free Will: If minds merge, does individuality disappear?

Neuroethicists warn that this isn’t just a hypothetical risk, governments and corporations are already exploring brain-computer interfaces for surveillance, military use, and advertising.

Also, they warn that we must set legal protections now, before brain-to-brain technology advances further. If we don’t, mental privacy may become the next big human rights issue.

Are We Ready?

Right now, brain-to-brain communication is still in its infancy. Scientists have successfully transmitted simple actions, basic words, and cooperative decisions, but complex emotions, abstract ideas, and full conversations remain beyond our reach. But so did electricity before the light bulb. So did radio waves before the internet.

If brain-to-brain interfaces continue to evolve, we could one day see:

• Instant translation between different languages.
• Silent communication for military or emergency response teams.
• New ways for disabled individuals to interact with the world.
• A revolution in education, where information is transmitted directly into the brain.

Yet, with these possibilities come risks. Will this technology bring humanity closer together or will it lead to a world where our thoughts are no longer our own? The age of direct neural communication is coming.

The mind was once our last private space. Will brain-to-brain technology change that forever?