What did MediaLab Europe research? MediaLab Europe's research groups engaged in research that tapped into the artistic as well as the technological mind.

Everyday learning This group investigated practical tools like a PDA device that highlights on a map all the places you can walk to, and more daring concepts, like a polymorphic form of writing incorporating sounds according to the pressure applied.

Human connectedness The first time that we began communicating without seeing each other were the drumbeat and the smoke signal. The breakthrough will be when distant social interaction feels real, such as when the dynamics of a sport event like squash can be felt even though two people are not in the same court.

Liminal devices What are the boundaries that separate virtual and real experience and do they matter? Projects in this area included attempts to use gestures and movement as information interfaces in the virtual world, the use of brain signals to control devices, getting mobile text to interpret more intelligently what we are trying to spell, allowing us to answer mobile phones with a muscle contraction - integrating communications into our normally discreet patterns of movement.

Mind games Is it possible to create feedback loops where body readings (such as heart rate) can help a user improve performance (such as indicating the need to relax) or control events (for example, using breathing to control an interface).

Palpable machines Human interaction with machines is currently restrictive, demanding that we sit down at a computer or use severely limited functionality in small mobile devices. "Palpable machines" was an attempt to make the machine more responsive, for example capturing writing speed and emotion when an e-mail is being written, and conveying this to the recipient.

Trusting technologies We have good reasons not to trust technology, and technology has good reasons not to trust us. Trusting Technologies aimed to restore, build and maintain trust between people and devices.