Lie-Detecting Brain Scan May Debut in Court

Who needs Perry Mason when we've got neuroscience? A Brooklyn attorney wants to prove someone is telling the truth by introducing a scan of her brain activity into evidence this week, reports Wired. It would be a legal first and could open the door to more such evidence being used in courtrooms, writes Alexis Madrigal.

It's far from a done deal, however. The companies who sell these so-called fMRI scans say they're foolproof because they measure blood-oxygen levels in the brain and can show when fibbers are in action. But says one neuroscientist critic: “The data in their studies don’t appear to be reliable enough to use in a court of law." We'll see if the judge agrees.
(More brain scans stories.)