Scientists from Britain and Belgium have used a new brain-scanning technique to communicate with patients in a vegetative state by monitoring their brain activity.
People in a vegetative state are awake but have generally been thought to have no awareness.
One Belgian man who'd been unresponsive for five years has responded, however, to yes and no questions to confirm his father's name.
One of the study's co-authors, Dr Adrian Owen, says the research raises many possibilities and many questions.
He says an immediate application for the finding could be to find out whether patients require more pain relief.
