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concepts
medical
Universal ECG is World's Smallest, Sedates Your Curiosity Anywhere
DRE, the Louisville medical tech company, has just unleashed the world's smallest ECG system. The compact device consists of the obligatory 12 leads and a small attachment that carries the necessary software for ECG interpretation. The Universal ECG hooks directly up to desktop PCs, laptops or Pocket PCs running Windows XP or 2000. More »
robots
Just last year, we showed you the concept i-Snake medical robot, and now a different team actually has a similar device for real: the CardioArm. This little robo-tentacle is being developed partly at Carnegie Mellon University, and is apparently the most flexible endoscope ever that follows its own camera-head in a snake-like way through your innards. Since it enters the body through a single incision, it's much less traumatic for the patient: minimally invasive surgery is clearly the way ahead.
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CardioArm Surgical Snake Will Worm its Way Into Your Heart
Just last year, we showed you the concept i-Snake medical robot, and now a different team actually has a similar device for real: the CardioArm. This little robo-tentacle is being developed partly at Carnegie Mellon University, and is apparently the most flexible endoscope ever that follows its own camera-head in a snake-like way through your innards. Since it enters the body through a single incision, it's much less traumatic for the patient: minimally invasive surgery is clearly the way ahead.
More »
crutches
Ever broken a leg? Know how much hassle it is to stumble around in crutches? Designer Yong-Rok Kim's Crutch Chair is intended to be a partial solution to the problem of knackering yourself out when walking like this. The two halves of his design snap together to form a neat seat-like thing so you can take the weight off your injury. Seems a darn sensible idea. With just one concern: that connection. Will you break your other leg when it gives way as you sit? Death by crutch it shall be! It's just a concept— we imagine it'd be boring gray or "medical pink" if it were ever made real. [Yanko design]
Crutch Chair Design Transforms for Impromptu Sitting
Ever broken a leg? Know how much hassle it is to stumble around in crutches? Designer Yong-Rok Kim's Crutch Chair is intended to be a partial solution to the problem of knackering yourself out when walking like this. The two halves of his design snap together to form a neat seat-like thing so you can take the weight off your injury. Seems a darn sensible idea. With just one concern: that connection. Will you break your other leg when it gives way as you sit? Death by crutch it shall be! It's just a concept— we imagine it'd be boring gray or "medical pink" if it were ever made real. [Yanko design]
rewalk exoskeleton
ReWalk Exoskeleton Leaves T So Speechless He Can't Finish the Headline
Now, if you're a superhuman hero gold chain on legs like me, you don't need this ReWalk exo-skeleton. But there's plenty of people out there who do, such as paraplegics who need to be taught to walk again. Here's the jibber-jabber: Israeli company Taga designed it for Argo Technologies and it uses SolidWorks' 3D CAD software. Doctors and stuff are testing it at the moment and the ReWalk should be available by 2009, which can only be a good thing. Plenty guys I knew in Vietnam ended up in wheelchairs, shot by bullets that maimed. Why we didn't use magic A-Team bullets over there is just beyond me. [MedGadget]
robots
Eye-Controlled Robot Performs Open Heart Surgery, Makes a Mean Pastrami Sandwich
Right now, the best Doogie Howser-bot around still requires a surgeon to actually go through motions of surgery, making them suffer hand cramps and light perspiration, when they could be sipping lattes or curing cancer. Well, researchers at the Imperial College London are upgrading the Da Vinci surgery robot so operating docs can control it with their eyes. More »
endocam
Home Care Camera Lets You Peer into Your Own Cavities
Clearly designed to make the most of the hypochondriac and Curious George in each of us, the Miharu Home Care "intraoral camera" lets you peer at your gums and cavities in gorgeous close-up detail. The battery-powered device even has an LED light so you can see better and plugs into a standard analog video socket so the whole family can watch on TV. More »
software
Epocrates and Apple Bringing iPhone App for Medical Professionals
Epocrates is working directly with those fruity chaps at Apple, in the hope of bringing an application for medical professionals to the iPhone. The app will support a drug search feature, as well as providing updates with recent, relevant medical information. Epocrates is one of the few companies that is working directly alongside Apple to create software for the newly opened iPhone, and the development is promising because it proves the iPhone has some serious worth in a professional capacity. Expect pharmacists to be made extinct once Epocrates unleashes the drug-searching monster app. Jump for the full PR release. More »
medicine
Test-Tube Babies Start Inside Mom, Thanks to Anecova Silicon Womb
Human trials are about to begin on a new device that goes inside a woman's body for up to four days, holding fresh IVF embryos in place like an artificial fallopian tube. Developed by Swiss company Anecova, the 5mm-long "silicon womb" is pierced with hundreds of 40-micron holes, the better to expose the embryos to the natural environment of the uterus, rather than having to be developed artificially in an incubator. Scientists hope this will improve the chances of successful pregnancy from in-vitro fertilization. [Anecova and New Scientist]
medtech
AutoPulse Makes CPR Hands-Free
The AutoPulse by Zoll is an automated CPR device that can not only replace someone performing life-saving chest compressions, but that can actually implement these compressions more effectively than human hands. Essentially a battery-operated band that wraps around the chest of a patient, by squeezing a larger area the AutoPulse can circulate blood better than standard CPR while allowing the doctor/technician to focus their efforts elsewhere. As far as hands-free technology goes, it sure beats the crap out of your Bluetooth headset. [autopulse via news and digg]
exercise
Alter-G Anti-Gravity Treadmill Approved by the FDA
The Alter-G treadmill has been given the greenlight by the FDA for classification as a medical device. The powers that be were no doubt swept away by the treadmills ability to reduce the weight of the user by as much as 80% (In 1% increments) using a NASA designed air pressure regulation system. More »
science
Telegraph Says Scientists Excited by Future of Gaming Platforms
Powerful game consoles are often just as programmable as research computers, and scientists are finding real world applications for them every day."There is no doubt that the entertainment industry is helping to drive the direction of high performance computational science," said Professor Peter Coveney of University College London.The Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii in particular can function as great scientific tools. More »
sightmate
SightMate Device Helps Partially-Sighted People and Colorblind
Although the SightMate looks like a pair of those video glasses, it actually improves the sight of people with poor eyesight. A two-megapixel camera with 3x zoom sits in the middle of the outer frame and feeds images to a double 640 x 480 display inside the glasses.
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medical gadgets
Scientists have injected a mouse with a chemical that makes its brain glow where there's activity, and implanted a tiny camera directly inside the hippocampus to watch what's going on. The team at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan are using the 0.1-inch-long camera to look for information on brain activity that causes tremors. They hope the results may lead to better treatments for Parkinson's disease, and if successful they may also experiment with humans. We can't imagine how strange it would be to know your brain's being watched from inside your head. [Fareastgizmos]
Micro-Camera Implanted in Mouse's Brain Watches for Parkinson Tremors
Scientists have injected a mouse with a chemical that makes its brain glow where there's activity, and implanted a tiny camera directly inside the hippocampus to watch what's going on. The team at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan are using the 0.1-inch-long camera to look for information on brain activity that causes tremors. They hope the results may lead to better treatments for Parkinson's disease, and if successful they may also experiment with humans. We can't imagine how strange it would be to know your brain's being watched from inside your head. [Fareastgizmos]
medical
Infrared-Beaming Helmet May Battle Alzheimer's
Despite looking like a freaky PC case-mod for your head, researchers say this helmet may serve as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. It directs low levels of infrared light at the skulls of Alzheimer's sufferers in order to combat the disease by stimulating brain cell growth. More »
medical
Watch Concept Gives Hearing-Impaired People a Fire Alert
This new watch concept from Nikita Golovlev is designed to give a visible warning to hearing-impaired users if something dangerous is going on nearby. Dubbed AlarMe, the watch has a bunch of omnidirectional microphones and does some intelligent listening to sense if anything audibly important such as a fire alarm is happening. It then gives the alert visually and by vibrating, sending "caution" alerts when something more benign happens. More »
medical timepiece
