health

Pew pew! From disc drives to sci-fi shooters, we live in a world full of laser beams. And a special laser made waves in the world of medical research this week. Developed by laser applications researchers from the University of Tennessee's Space Institute, it could one day find use as a weapon against cancer.

Known as a femtosecond laser, the high-speed light pulses at one-quadrillionth of a second; when fine-tuned, the powerful beam can be used by doctors to detect, map, and nullify cancerous tumors. … Read more

Imagine if you were a food critic and suddenly developed a wheat/dairy/corn/carb/fat allergy.

Or what if you were a car mechanic and the smell of gas brought you out in itchy purple hives and then made you have convulsions?

This is the fate of computer technician Phil Inkly. Or, rather, former computer technician.

Inkly, you see, claims to be allergic to pretty much everything to do with, well, technology.

You name it and it affects him. If it's some kind of gadget, if it's even a battery, it might give him nosebleeds, burning headaches, … Read more

In the Fox TV show "Lie to Me," Dr. Cal Lightman was able to tell whether someone was lying by observing what he called "micro expressions" on their faces. The twitch of an eye, the quickening of a pulse, the beads of sweat on a brow -- he looked for clues too subtle for most of us to catch.

Now, researchers out of MIT are developing a video technology they call Eulerian Video Magnification that could do that and more -- by amplifying the motion in a standard video sequence to detect information not visible to … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to take a closer look at its standards for cell phone safety to see if the agency needs to revise the 15-year-old guidelines.

Later today, Chairman Julius Genachowski will circulate a notice of inquiry that will look at a series of questions surrounding whether the current standards need to be updated or whether the agency's testing practices should be altered, a source at the commission said. And the agency will also examine whether it needs to make improvements in how it communicates safety information to consumers.

The FCC hopes to get comments from … Read more

Bye-bye boring clipboard. Silicon Valley-based Tonic Health has developed software for iPads that makes collecting medical data in the waiting room more patient-friendly and engaging through the use of compelling graphics and gamification.

SmartPlanet's Sumi Das sits down with Tonic Health CEO Sterling Lanier for a demo. Lanier explains that the software not only makes the data-collection process more fun, it improves patient participation and even relieves pre-appointment anxiety.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "iPad software makes patient intake fun."

Related SmartPlanet links

Some tech just sounds too good to be true. A removable, wireless sensor that adheres to dental enamel and can detect trace amounts of harmful bacteria just might fall into the too-much-information category for the squeamish among us.

But the silk, gold, and graphene-based sensor that looks a bit like a temporary tattoo could play a key role in detecting and treating various diseases and conditions, the developers at Princeton University say.

"This is a real-time, wireless response from a sensor that can be directly interfaced with a variety of biomaterials," principal investigator Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor … Read more

Google, Facebook, and their ilk are young companies. In every sense.

It isn't merely that they rise in their toddler years to become worth more than many nations. It's that all of the faces who work there seem fresher than springtime daisies.

This has led to the occasional accusation that these companies don't really want to hire older people. You know, those over 36.

Google, indeed, suffered a lawsuit from Brian Reid, the then 54-year-old engineer -- and the man credited with helping craft the first firewall -- who claimed he was terminated just before Google's … Read more

If you spend hours a day in front of a computer screen (like me), and have experienced anything along the lines of: eyes burning, neck aching, vision blurring, or head throbbing, you might have a common problem known as eyestrain.

In medical terms it's called Computer Vision Syndrome, and it comes from a combination of your monitor's bright backlight, glare and staring at a screen for extended periods of time.

Quick fixes like ibuprofen and eye exercises will usually relieve eyestrain, but in my quest to resolve this issue, I went for a preventative approach.

After consulting trusty … Read more

Science is a force for good. Mostly.

However, some might be wondering just how much good can come out of a cannabis plant that has lost its magical power: the ability to get you high.

A group of Israeli scientists decided that they should pursue this joy-dampening experiment, one that will surely depress many.

According to Agence France-Presse -- which relied on reporting by the Maariv Daily -- the scientists' hearts were partly in the right place.

Yes, they wanted to dampen the effect of tetrahydrocannabinol, the pot element that makes you feel so very good. But their aim was … Read more