Science Education of the Day: Can We Record Our Dreams?

Is it scientifically feasible to record what we visualize while we are asleep? The latest episode of Asap Science addresses this question by exploring several experiments that have been conducted using magnetic resonance imaging technology, in which computer algorithms were able to piece together basic representations of human thought. After building a database of images and video taken from the Internet, special software could provide a crude approximation of what a subject was thinking about during sleep. The computer's predictions weren't perfect, but as the technology improves and the learning algorithms become more sophisticated, perhaps one day we will be able to play back dreams on DVDs.