Medicine
”Department of Defense Invests $250 Million in Regrowing Body Parts
The military is serious about regrowing body parts. So serious that the Department of Defense just announced the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, or AFIRM. The goal of AFIRM? To "use a patient's natural cellular structure to reconstruct new skin, muscles and tendons, and even ears, noses and fingers." Sounds pretty great to us. More »Bionic Eyes Get One Step Closer to Reality
Bionic eyes that return sight to the blind might not be as far off as previously thought, with researchers in London carrying out the first treatment on a pair of patients in a study of a new technology. More »GeeWhiz Condom Catheter Still Gives Me the Willies
Guy Invents Potential Cancer Cure With Radio Machine Built Out of Pie Pans... and Hot Dogs
You know, I really love it when (sorta) average guys out-innovate mega-corporate profit machines, like that homemade MRI machine. But this is more amazing: John Kanzius has no background in cancer research but might have invented a real cure. He was diagnosed with leukemia, and struck by the idea that radio waves could kill cancer cells. So he built a prototype machine using pie pans and conducted tests on hot dogs injected with copper sulfate—the radio waves only heat up metal spots, for tactical nuking without nasty side effects. It's now being tested at the University of Pittsburgh and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where the lead doc says that it "may allow us to treat just about any kind of cancer you can imagine." More »Paro the $5000 Therapeutic Seal Now Available in America
Paro, the Japanese robotic therapy seal is now available in the US. Paro is a medical device developed by folks who have built therapy robots for years, and they say this robo-companionship can relieve some of the symptoms associated with long-term illness and even Alzheimer's. Why a seal, and not a cat or dog? Because people don't have stereotypes about seals and wouldn't question how real it felt. We're all for a gadget that helps a sick person feel better, but we don't know if you should let your demented aunt Fanny spend too much time with a robot seal.More »
Cheap, Homemade MRI Does a Better Job Imaging Lungs Than the Real Thing
Dvorak: Appendix Removed Through Vagina
We wish you a speedy recovery, John. [Dvorak Uncensored]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]Embedded Phones Will Cure What Ails Ya, Says Father of Cellphones
Martin Cooper, credited at Motorola with the invention of the first cellphone—2lbs with 20 min battery life—says the next 10 to 15 years will bring embedded phones that will:• Call and answer using thought controls
• Stay powered by the movement of the body itself
• Diagnose and cure disease by remotely communicating body issues with hospital computers
There are, as you might expect, some obstacles... More »
Pig Bladder Powder Regrows Fingers
Lee Spievack accidentally cut off his fingertip working on an airplane. His brother, a research scientist, sent him powder made up partially out of pig's bladder and told him to sprinkle it on his fingertip. The finger regrew itself in four weeks. How did it work? More »Bird Flu Detection by "VereFlu" Disposable Lab-on-a Chip
You thought avian flu was so 2006, didn't you? Not so STMicroelectronics, which has been quietly working away to build a new lab-on-a-chip device to detect the virus. Dubbed VereFlu, it's actually able to detect many strains of influenza virus, including human type A and B, and the killer avian H5N1 strain. Better yet, the disposable chip takes just two hours whereas traditional tests take much longer, increasing its life-saving potential. Having passed hospital trials in Singapore last year, its launch means you may expect to see it pop up in hospitals and airports over the coming years. [Reuters]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 »No Health Insurance? Get Your Terminal Illness Diagnosed By Bees
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]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.
More »Pill Camera Not So Hard for Patients to Swallow
As the miniaturisation of cameras continues apace, more and more innovative products are thrown up, such as this pill camera. Basically a lens on a piece of string (isn't that something that Hell's Angels like to do involving string, bacon and laydeez, and goes by the name of Wolfbagging?), the technology costs just $300—far less than a $5,000 endoscope. Developed at the University of Washington, the only person who has tried it out so far is research associate professor Eric Siebel. More »
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