Brain helmet claims to enhance intelligence.”If you could wake up tomorrow 10 IQ points higher, would you like that?”

So began a recent press release for a new Israeli product: a “proven” technology that can help make you smarter. Dr. David Passig, futurist and head of Bar-Ilan University’s virtual reality lab, is the mad genius behind the Brain Helmet.

The helmet’s visor fits over the eyes of users, putting them in a virtual reality world where they solve mathematical problems and learn to assemble and take apart three-dimensional objects. Passig says if the users wear the helmet 10 to 20 minutes a day for three months, their IQ can improve by as much as 20 per cent. He also shares the news that the helmet allows men to develop what, until now, only women had: a connection between the left and right lobe of the brain.