Health tech

Viruses are small. Very small. There are millions of types, and the 5,000 or so that have been studied in detail are typically between 10 and 300 nanometers (one-billionth of a meter) in diameter.

Because the wavelengths of visible light range from roughly 300 to 800 nanometers, viruses aren't exactly visible under normal lighting. Only optical fluoresce microscopes can see inside a virus, and then only indirectly, using dye, which cannot actually penetrate a virus.

So the "microsphere nanoscope" developed by scientists at the University of Manchester's School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering in the U.K. and described in the journal Nature Communications is remarkable on two counts: It breaks the world record of direct imaging under normal lights by 20 times, viewing objects as small as 50 nm wide, and what's more, the tech behind it imposes no theoretical limit in the size of feature that can be seen.

This incredible jump in capacity could allow humans to see inside human cells and even live viruses for the first time, which in turn could give us many new insights into their structures and behaviors.… Read more

I don't run much because I'm counting on getting superhuman robotic legs in the future. But if I were a runner, Merrell's new Go Barefoot running app might be kinda appealing now that I understand it's only half-serious in suggesting I go running barefoot.

The new free app is the first barefoot running training and education app for the iPhone, according to the footwear maker, which happens to make a line of "minimalist shoes" called Barefoot. Hence the app name.

Minimalist shoes are flat, with the barest of protection from the elements and the terrain.

Go Barefoot "provides the proper training and education for a barefoot or barefoot-like running experience," a publicist explained, dispelling my confusion. So you can use it with or without shoes.

The app has four stages of expert training, including how to run barefoot by striking the ground closer to the ball of the foot instead of the heel. You can also track time and distance with the GPS function.

The app also comes with an iTunes mix of music that plays at 180 beats per minute to sync with a running cadence.

Go Barefoot is structured around a 40-day regimen of workouts and fitness tests to prepare for the challenge of a "1.5-mile barefoot run," which presumably means no shoes whatsoever.

Not even Barefoot shoes. … Read more

A Web site and app out of Germany applies the wiki approach to maps, enabling users around the world to use the OpenStreetMap platform to rate and comment on the wheelchair accessibility of a wide range of establishments, from bars and shops to underground metro stops.

Called Wheelmap, the free app for iOS devices is in English, German, and Japanese, and while still in beta (version 1.1 adds Japanese), it already includes details on some 30,000 locations, with roughly 300 new user ratings every day.

Wheelmap is the brainchild of Raul Krauthausen, who wanted to create a service … Read more

You forgot to feed your gerbil. In the middle of the night, it escapes its cage and gnaws off your ear. Who you gonna call? Your local 3D print shop. It'll run off a perfect copy of your ear in no time flat.

This is the kind of futuristic scenario that Cornell University's Hod Lipson and colleagues have been painting while discussing "bioprinting" at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

Bioprinting refers to the practice of using 3D printing to make biological tissue such as skin, bone, and cartilage.

The technology has been around for two decades, but researchers recently began using it to create biological structures. The idea is to make custom-designed tissue and organs from a patient's own cells, perhaps eliminating the need for donated organs.

Companies like Organovo are already developing bioprinted blood vessels, which will be essential for artificially grown organs.

"The next big thing and next logical step is [the] development of robotic methods of functional human tissue and organ bioassembly," Vladimir Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina wrote in a meeting abstract. Mironov has been trying to grow meat in his lab for a decade.

One study has shown how tissue engineering was used to repair a calf's femur. Printing organs such as livers could be next. … Read more

University of Michigan computer scientists and engineers are at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco today presenting papers on two systems: a prototype implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients and a compact radio for wireless sensor networks.

What makes their presentation so remarkable is that both systems involve what is believed to be the first complete millimeter-scale computing system.

The near-invisible package is just over 1 cubic millimeter in size and includes an ultra-low-power microprocessor, a thin-film battery, a solar cell, memory, a pressure sensor, and a wireless radio with an antenna.

"Millimeter-scale systems...have a host of new applications for monitoring our bodies, our environment, and our buildings," said Professor David Blaauw in a news release. "Because they're so small, you could manufacture hundreds of thousands on one wafer. There could be 10s to 100s of them per person, and it's this per capita increase that fuels the semiconductor industry's growth."

The team points to Bell's Law, formulated by computer engineer Gordon Bell in 1972, which says that a new class of smaller and cheaper computers is developed roughly every decade. This is considered to be a partial corollary to Moore's Law, established in 1970 and named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore (first names coincidental), which describes the now 50-plus-year trend that the number of transistors able to be placed on an integrated circuit doubles every two years.

The new system out of Michigan is being hailed as the first in a new class of millimeter-scale computing, and while the researchers are specifically targeting the medical side of body sensor networks, other potential applications include tracking such things as pollution, weapons, structural integrity, and more.… Read more

In what is being hailed by experts as a "scientific breakthrough" that could "revolutionize" the way blood pressure is measured, researchers in Singapore and the UK report in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on a novel device that can measure blood pressure near the heart.

The CASPro blood pressure monitor is named after central aortic systolic pressure (CASP), which is the pressure exerted by the aorta--the body's largest artery--that extends out from the heart. CASP is a key indicator of stroke and heart disease risk, and its measurements … Read more

There's a big question being explored right now about the intersection of health and social media: Does the tracking and sharing of personal fitness and diet data motivate us to get, and stay, healthy?

A host of Web sites and mobile apps are banking on the answer being yes. FitDay provides a free diet journal; Daily Burn offers logs to track diet, exercise, and weight; an Awareness app promises to upgrade one's mental software; and dozens of other sites and apps cater to specific types of diets, exercises, and desired outcomes.

So the just-launched Humana fit social network, designed to help users live healthier, more active lives, is going to have to offer some pretty stellar features to stand out.… Read more

Pacemaker patients who opt for magnetic resonance imaging risk serious complications, including damage to the pacemaker's parts or a change in the device's ability to consistently trigger a heartbeat (called pacing capture threshold). That is, until now.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just approved Medtronic's Revo MRI SureScan pacemaker for use in the U.S.; in doing so, the SureScan has become the first and only pacemaker in the country approved as MR-Conditional.

Minneapolis-based Medtronic says it will begin shipping the pacing system--which costs between $5,000 and $10,000--immediately.

"[This] is a … Read more

A prototype wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) headset debuts this week at the Medical Device and Manufacturing conference and exhibition in Anaheim, Calif., and European developers IMEC and Holst Centre say it could lead to not just neuro-feedback but improved safety (no more sleeping behind the wheel) and entertainment (real-time video game adjustments based on the user's mood).

Currently, recording the brain's electrical activity involves having subjects sit in a lab or hospital room and perform activities over 20 or so minutes with electrodes placed via gel all over their scalp.

So as strange as this prototype headgear may look, the advantages are numerous: ultralow power electronics, dry electrodes, wireless real-time transmission of high-quality EEG signals to a receiver within 10 meters, and the ability to record activity in real-life scenarios.

Side effects may include, but are not limited to, people staring and asking unsolicited questions, which may or may not interfere with EEG results.… Read more