IT HAS been just 18 months since the Microsoft Kinect motion-sensing controller overturned ideas of how humans can interact with computers. Engineers have been quick on the uptake. A device the size of a wristwatch can now turn your body into an antenna that can control machines with a wave of your hands (see "Gadgets work under your skin – but are you ready?"). The age of touchless computing isn't far off.
As if that weren't enough, we might also find control interfaces embedded in our bodies. Experiments on cadavers have shown that LEDs, Bluetooth connections and touch sensors are able to communicate with the outside world when implanted into human tissue (page 22). Futurists have long talked of our technologies merging with us. The day when that is a reality may come sooner than you think.