IBM has produced a glossy multimedia website (see below) to expound the possibilities under the label "IBM 5 in 5: five innovations that will help change our lives within five years." And analog, MEMS and sensors are prominent. But digital electronics will also have its say in the form of big data and artificial intelligence. The full list is artificial intelligence; hyperspectral imaging; microfluidic lab-on-chips, networks of novel sensors and something IBM calls "macroscoping." Amongst the developments IBM researchers are predicting – and a slightly disconcerting prediction at that – is that what we say and write could be monitored and used as indicators of our mental health and physical well-being. Patterns of speech and writing and how they change over time, analysed by cognitive systems, could provide tell-tale signs of early-stage developmental disorders, mental illness and degenerative neurological diseases.