Health tech

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

Many with ALS or high-level spinal-cord injuries have been relying for years on the old sip-and-puff technology to operate wheelchairs and computers. This tech requires the user to sip or puff precise amounts of air pressure into a straw, and it is anything but subtle.

The operation of wheelchairs and other devices could soon be far less conspicuous, thanks to a prototype dental retainer developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology--for those who don't mind getting their tongues pierced, that is.

Featuring a small retainer that fits along the roof of the mouth, the Tongue Drive System uses … Read more

Scrubbing your chompers probably doesn't top your list of favorite things to do. That means you rush through it without lavishing your teeth with the attention they truly deserve.

The Beam Brush is aiming to change your slacker ways. The manual brush hooks up with an Android app to track how long you are brushing, with the ideal time being 2 minutes per session. Simple charts show if you're reaching your goals. … Read more

Most of us have at least tried to text without looking at our phones before. I confess to having shot off a quick message while stopped at a red light, or immediately following crazy goals and tackles at soccer matches, or even from the confines of my pocket at parties.

Now a free, open-source app called BrailleTouch is about to make this form of multitasking that much easier--for the visually impaired and sighted alike.

Designed at Georgia Tech, the app incorporates the Braille writing system into a touch-screen device. It essentially turns an iPhone's touch screen into a soft-touch … Read more

If you're wondering whether you're too many cups or too many hours into the day for yet another jolt of caffeine, a free app developed by researchers at Pennsylvania State University aims to help.

In building the Caffeine Zone app, professors representing several disciplines relied on peer-reviewed studies to devise a simple formula: those with between 200 and 400 milligrams of caffeine in their bloodstream are in the optimal mental alertness zone, while anyone above 100 milligrams has entered the good-luck-sleeping-anytime-soon zone.

"Many people don't understand how caffeine levels in their bloodstream go up and how … Read more

The so-called "bible" of the mental health profession is getting an update, and version 5.0 of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) could add "Internet addiction" to its lengthy list of disorders.

The different iterations of the DSM have for decades been the go-to reference many psychiatrists use to diagnose patients. The manual has been no stranger to controversy over the years, including recent charges by some that it seems written to serve the interests of drug companies as much as those of patients.

But now the APA working group in charge of revising the DSM section on substance-related disorders has proposed adding a new non-substance based affliction--"Internet addiction."

In other words, Internet addiction could soon be classified along other listed DSM disorders like "cocaine dependence" or "Opioid abuse."… Read more

What do you do if you're an injured astronaut and your doctor absolutely refuses to make Mars calls?

Well, the European Space Agency is trying to address that question. The ESA is testing a wearable augmented-reality device that might one day enable astronauts who aren't doctors to perform surgery on ailing colleagues.

Astronauts haven't whipped out the scalpels just yet--the device is currently being tested as a tool for ultrasound examinations that let users look patients over and diagnose a medical condition. But the agency said in a recent post to its Web site that "in principle [it] could guide other procedures."

In a nutshell, the device--the Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System, or Camdass--works as follows. While moving an ultrasound probe along the patient, the user wears a headset that displays a 3D image of healthy tissue along with the ultrasound images of the patient.

The device, according to the ESA, "precisely [combines] computer-generated graphics with the wearer's view." Hence, differences--and problems--can be spotted.… Read more

Sleep-monitoring and wake-up wristwatch SleepTracker Elite, known for its alarm system that triggers a vibrating and/or beeping alarm only when you're nearly awake anyway, has another trick up its sleeve: a free analytics tool that tracks a user's sleep data over time.

The idea is that SleepTracker Analytics, which the company unveiled today for Mac and PC, will encourage users to cut out sleep destroyers--caffeine, alcohol, a generally gloomy outlook on life--by visually charting the effect these bad habits have on a good night's sleep.

Once downloaded, you connect your watch to upload sleep data to your personal Analytics account and check out details such as when you went to bed, when you woke up, how many minutes throughout the night your sleep was interrupted, and your resulting sleep score on a scale of 1 to 100.

A company rep says that previously SleepTracker users only had access to software that evaluated one night's sleep, with users being able to manually input notes such as whether they drank caffeine late at night. Being able to track sleep patterns over time seems like an obvious tool for those trying to make actual lifestyle changes.… Read more