Health tech

Many of us have never been properly trained on how to do or use certain things we really should be good at. Putting on condoms and installing infant car seats are just two skills that come to mind; when we get them wrong, the health consequences can be grave.

The same can be said for improper asthma inhaler use--a serious and expensive problem considering some 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to and 11 people die from asthma every day, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Let's face it: some devices could use training wheels.

Enter the T-Haler, a digital asthma inhaler training device developed by researchers at Cambridge Consultants. Patients can use the inhaler and, via interactive software linked to the wireless device, get real-time visual feedback on the areas that need improving.… Read more

Affordable paper sensors aren't exactly new. Think home pregnancy tests. But researchers out of the University of Texas at Austin are pushing (or is it folding?) the envelope with their origami-inspired 3D paper sensor that, thanks to strategic folding, can identify more substances in more complex tests.

Able to be printed at less than a dime a sensor using an ordinary office printer and less than a minute of folding, the origami Paper Analytical Device (which they've dubbed oPAD) "is about medicine for everybody," said Richard Crooks, a chemistry professor who built the sensor with doctoral student Hong Liu, in a school news release.

Liu was first inspired to use origami when he read a paper by Harvard chemist George Whitesides, who is the first to build a 3D microfluidic paper sensor to target biological agents.… Read more

For the blind and visually impaired, it can be nearly impossible to follow along when a math teacher spends most of a lecture in front of a blackboard or projector drawing shapes, parabolas, X-Y planes, and other visuals.

It's about time there's an app for that, thought mechanical engineering grad student Jenna Gorlewicz, who'd spent a few years at Vanderbilt's Medical and Electromechanical Design Laboratory miniaturizing endoscopic robotic capsules and was looking for a more people-oriented project.

So Gorlewicz, who says she loves both teaching and math, set out 18 months ago to try to develop a tablet app that uses haptic (or tactile) technology to help the visually impaired learn math and other subjects with a strong visual component.… Read more

News of the mind-controlled skateboard spurred a rather heated discussion on Crave this week about how we could apply brain-wave-powered tech to other aspects of our lives.

Of all the things we came up with, music was not one of them. However, Japanese artist Masaki Batoh's had the wherewithal to make that connection.

Wanting to remember and help those affected by last year's Great East Japan earthquake, Batoh produced a new album, called "Brain Pulse Music," that took survivors' brain waves and turned them into music. … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--We're always intrigued by NTT Docomo's booth at trade shows, and this year's MWC is no different.

The company demonstrated a smartphone case with an embedded sensor for hygiene purposes. Similar to the ultra high-speed charging jacket, the device snaps onto the smartphone's chassis, much like a backup battery. However, there's a sensor, microchip, and NFC module embedded in this "jacket."

The most interesting capability of this sensor jacket has to be ranking your alcohol inebriation on a scale of one to five, one being the lowest.… Read more

Researchers in Canada say they've built a device that will help them study changes in red blood cells caused by the most common species of malaria parasites, plasmodium falciparum, which causes the most lethal form of a disease that claims almost a million lives every year.

The microfluidic device, which is just 1 x 2 inches, is not a diagnostic tool but rather a way to test potential treatments--a crucial step in the fight against malaria, which is constantly evolving to develop resistance to drugs.

Typically, human red blood cells squeeze through capillaries that are narrower than the cells … Read more

Is that a QR code in your pocket, or do you just want to tell the world where you last had sex?

Turns out the answer could be "both."

The scannable codes have been popping up on (of all things) condom wrappers--to enable users to post the location of their sexual activity online.

No, it's not a check-in app for orgy-goers (VCs take note--that opportunity may still be available). It's part of an effort by the Seattle-area chapter of Planned Parenthood to hook up with members of the social-media generation.

Taking a cue from check-in sites like Foursquare, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest has been handing out the specially stickered rubbers to college students. The students are encouraged to scan the codes after sex to go to a Web site where they can anonymously post the approximate whereabouts of their recent safe-sex tryst to an online map.… Read more

As implantable medical devices become smaller and less power hungry, they are taking on a variety of new roles. What began as largely stationary objects, such as pacemakers and cochlear implants, are becoming small enough to actually pass through our bodies (i.e. in the form of pills) to deliver drugs and perform diagnostics.

Now, a new class of medical devices is emerging that adds a twist to the traditional implant: the devices are so small that they can travel through our bloodstream, not to mention are powered wirelessly via electromagnetic radio waves, according to Stanford electrical engineer Ada Poon.

By moving through the bloodstream, these tiny implants will be able to perform minor surgeries such as removing blood clots, Poon told an audience at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco this week.… Read more

If you've been inspired by Jeremy Lin's story and want to work on honing your basketball skills, Nike has a new solution to help motivate you and track your progress.

The sportswear giant expanded its Nike+ line today with the introduction of Nike+ Basketball. The solution includes a new line of sneakers with pressure sensors strategically placed throughout the soles to measure how hard you're playing, how fast you're moving, and how high you're jumping (as if I need an app to tell me my vertical sucks).

The sensors then wirelessly transmit this data to your iPhone via Bluetooth, so you can see the results and track your progress. Social networks also play a big part of Nike+ Basketball, as you can share your stats with friends on Facebook and Twitter, or compare them to other users via the app's global leaderboard. There's even a showcase mode that lets you superimpose the data onto a video of you working your magic on the court. … Read more