When mosquitoes bite you, it's not their mouth that hurts you: their ultra-fine proboscis dips beneath the skin, and then a muscle squeeze-relax motion draws blood out of it. The new needle, made of titanium alloys for strength, has a tiny microelectricalmechanical pump that mimics the mozzy, and can work to extract blood or pump in drugs. It's also just 60 microns across, versus 900 microns of a conventional syringe. The team hopes to commercialize the product, but they've got a few technical hurdles to overcome before we can all worry less about having an injection. [NewScientist]

By repeating the process, and varying the agitation rates and the shape and size of the tissue bricks, structures like branches and cubes can be built up. The team has also built very complex structures that resemble blood vessels running through tissue, and know that yet more complex and "realistic" structures are possible.

While this is a technology in its infancy, it has advantages over current tissue-engineering techniques (which rely on a sort of "top-down" system, tying cells to a polymer mould) in that it has the potential to emulate natural repeating units in organs like the liver, pancreas, heart-muscle and so on. There are plenty of challenges before we can, for example, grow artificial pancreatic tissue, but this is a pretty amazing start. The results are published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Technology Review]

"Patients often don't die from primary tumors, which you can recognize and detect and develop a therapy for," said Cheresh. "They die from metastatic disease — when, for example, a breast cancer spreads to the liver, the lymph nodes, the brain. Those patients could theoretically be treated with this type of therapy, with the hope that it would prolong the progression of the disease, that the metastatic lesions would slow."

The nanomachines don't just help kill cancer and stop it from sprreading, they can even be used to detect cancer early as well. We'd like scientists to develop these nano bots to give us superpowers like super vision and super strength, but saving us from dying is a pretty super too. [Wired]

Given the relatively small amount of funding and the potential ethical roadblocks the military would run into trying to develop a skin gun, my guess is that we probably won't see a device like this in our local pharmacy anytime soon. But it is interesting to think that it could be possible somewhere down the line. [Pop Sci via io9 via DVICE]

Not surprisingly, there will be a number of obstacles standing in DARPA's way. The putty will have to not only be strong and flexible, but it will have to bond well with bone and feature a similar internal structure. Whether or not this goal can be achieved remains to be seen, but a meeting has been scheduled for July 1st in Virginia to begin the process. [FBO via Wired]

They aren't sure how well it'll work and are consistently monitoring it, but in theory the powder tricks dormant stem cells in the human body into kicking into gear, growing more of whatever body part they're touching. That means that if it's on skin, it'll grow more skin. If it's on a tendon, it'll regrow tendons. Will it be able to regrow a functioning human finger? And if so, will it work with other body parts such as internal organs? Time will tell. [CNN]

The Noveon cooks onychomycosis (toenail fungus) using two near-infrared wavelengths, but leaves healthy tissue untouched, as seen in this diagram. [Medgadget]

The result is a medical scanner that is ultra-portable and inexpensive enough to make an impact in developing countries. Tests have also determined that the amount of data sent should not prove problematic for the system. In fact, the size of the data in a recent study amounted to less than 6 kilobytes. That having been said, the researchers behind the project hope to go a step further and couple ultrasound scanners with cellphones, which could potentially reduce the cost of a typical $70,000 machine to $1000 or less. Ultrasounds for everyone! [LiveScience]

It's great because the researchers at the Department of Defense and DARPA are the researchers who brought us stuff like, oh, the internet and GPS. If there's anyone we want researching groundbreaking advances like this, it's them. The government is tossing them $250 million for the first five years of the project, with NIH and three universities on board.

And while the tech is obviously intended for use on injured soldiers first and foremost, any discoveries made will head to regular hospitals post haste. And you know what that means: you can play with more dangerous fireworks, as if you blow off any of your fingers you'll soon be able to just regrow them. Three cheers for the careless future! [DoD and Slate via Slashdot]

The new bionic eyes are connected to a camera on a pair of glasses, so they aren't the all-in-one models you're envisioning. And if successful, they'll really only allow patients to see light and dark outlines rather than full sight. But still, to someone who has no vision at all, this is still pretty great news. And if they're working on it in this state now, you know that they'll have the camera in the eye itself and the vision improved as the years go on. [BBC]

So how to get metal bits to cancer cells? This is where the big corporate research comes in: nanotechnology. Thousands of nano-particles composed of metal bits can fit in a cancer cell. So far, they've conducted successful cancer extermination trials using the Kanzius machine and metal nano-particles at both M.D. Anderson and Pittsburgh. The catch is that it's only been tested on solid tumors—hitting cancer that's spread around the body is what they're working toward, and if they can't hunt down the individual cancer cells with the nano-particles, this will only have limited applications.

Human trials are also still four years away, which unfortunately might not be in time for the machine's inventor to cure himself. [CBS via Medgadget]

P.S. On a lighter note, if you really liked the CGI in the video, the guys at Hybrid Medical Animation emailed us to let you know it was all them, baby.

The cost? Five thousand dollars. To put that insane price in robot pet perspective, you could buy 16 Pleos or even 2 ½ AIBOs.

But it's only in limited quantities for now; that means if you aren't a hospital you can expect to wait a while before getting your hands on one. [Paro, Paro research]

Built by a couple of researchers at Harvard, the makeshift MRI was cost less than $100,000 to make, but it does a better job of imaging the lungs than traditional MRIs do. That's because while traditional MRIs are great at imaging liquid within the body, the lungs are full of air, which doesn't come out in the scans. Not this hobbled together contraption; it uses a weak magnetic field to image aspects of the lungs that are invisible to all other imaging techniques.

So really, this is a very specialized MRI machine, albeit one that was essentially built in a garage by a couple of crazy geniuses. So no, you won't be able to go down the street to your neighborhood mad scientist's shed to get an MRI on the cheap anytime soon, but it's a nice thought, isn't it? [Technology Review]

Cooper, 79, who since leaving Motorola has run now runs a company called ArrayComm and was instrumental in developing the Jitterbug old people's phone, gripes that the embeds will only come when society and industry shape up:

• "People are really conservative," he says, explaining why subcutaneous electronics may not be tantalizing to your mom.

• Phone features need to get simplier. Today's shoddy interfaces explain how much more development is needed before thought controls are feasible.

• Companies, including Motorola, don't take enough risks any more. "People thought I was crazy thinking about a phone you can just put in your pocket." [Reuters]

Researchers are using materials such as the pig's bladder, which contains something called extracellular matrix, a "mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons." By using this stuff, combined with the theory that all parts of the body innately "know" how to repair themselves, you should be able to grow back whole limbs (like The Lizard from Spidey). Amazing stuff. [CBSNews via Boing Boing]

For now, the new software tracks the surgeons' eye movements and builds a 3D map of the tissue they're eyeballin'. That image is stabilized and easy for the doc to work with, even though the robot's instruments are in fact moving along with whatever organ they're toying around inside.

The other cyber-surgeon craziness they're cooking up is a virtual overlay that makes tissue see-through: It models what's underneath it, like a tumor, and gives the doctor high-res Ghost in the Shell vision. So, how long before you swallow nanobot pills that'll patch up your heart automatically and then you poop 'em out? [The Guardian]

She's making artsy glass orbs that have specially sized compartments inside. The bees buzz around inside, and when you blow into them they either fly around like the stupid bees that they are or they fly into the compartments depending on what the diagnosis is. It works because bees have very sensitive senses of smell and can be trained to target specific odors that appear in your breath when you're sick.

Would this be cheaper than seeing a doctor? Yes, yes it would, but I think I would want a second opinion from a non-insect if a bee told me I had a terminal illness. But hey, if you don't have health insurance I guess there are worse animals you could go to for medical consultations. [MOMA via Dvice]

There is even compensation for colorblindness, and people with 20/70 and 20/200 accuity can get 20/20 to 20/40 vision wearing the device. Rather like the warnings on sleeping tablets, the manufacturers do not suggest you drive (or, let's assume, operate heavy machinery) when using it. All this tech doesn't come cheap, however: the SightMate is available for around $3,500—that's $2,500 more expensive than most video glasses. [Eyetonomy via DailyTech —Thanks Kyle and Demetrius]

"Never in your life have you ever swallowed anything and it's still sticking out of your mouth, but once you do it, it's easy," he said of the device. It consists of seven fiber optic cables in a capsule about the size of a painkiller, with a 1.4-mm tether that allows the doctor to move the camera around and pull it back up once the exploration is finished.

Testing starts at the Seattle Veterans' Administration hospital next year. Once given the thumbs-up, the reusable gadget (disinfect, rinse, repeat, I guess) is expected to be used in the fight against oesophagal cancer. Normal endoscopes are considerably bigger and can only be swallowed after the patient has been sedated (and liberally greased up, probably).

[CNN]

The "CTC-chip" itself is a business-card sized silicon chip that features microscopic posts coated with cancer-detecting antibodies. As blood flows over the chip, the posts "trap" cancer cells, leaving healthy cells behind. Tests have proven the chip to be 99% effective in detecting CTC cells in samples—representing a vast improvement over current methods.

So what does this all mean? First and foremost, it means that cancer treatment can become more personalized. It means that determining whether or not a particular treatment is effective will be easier—saving patients precious time. It could also lead to better methods of cancer screening and a better understanding of the biology of cancer cells and how they spread throughout the body. It may not be the cure everyone is looking for, but the notion that the CTC chip could help doctors make faster and more effective judgments on when to switch treatments is certainly better than wasting a suffering patient's time with treatments that aren't working. [Press Release and Reuters via MedGadget]

Philips' scanner can give a patient a full body scan in less than a minute — and exposes them to 80 per cent less radiation than a traditional X-ray machine. The machine scans the body as well as rotating around it, sending out 256 pulses every one-third of a second. It is so powerful that it can capture an unblurred image of an entire heart in less than two heartbeats.

The machine could prove useful in the battle against cancer. As well as picking up tumors in the body, the scanner should be able to show medics how the disease spreads and new patterns of abnormality. There is currently just one 256-slice scanner in use, at the Metro Health medical center in Cleveland, Ohio. [Daily Mail]

The next step for CAVEman is to allow doctors to actually reach inside of the holograms and actually feel the tissues and compare densities. They also want to add organ sounds. Eventually, they want to be able to create patient-specific models to help explain things to patients visually. It's downright remarkable. Let's see this technology brought over to the world of video games, OK? Now that would be a useful application of technology, not this medicine mumbo jumbo. [CAVEman via Washington Post via Book of Joe]

Since these ultrashort-pulse lasers or USPs don't generate a lot of heat, they are far gentler than conventional lasers, which may open up the possibility of using them to eradicate viruses in stored blood. The duo is currently testing the laser on HIV and hepatitis, which could be truly groundbreaking if successful. Will this physics professor and his biologist son restore my faith in medical science? Only time will tell. [Wired]

Selanikio points to one example where EpiSurveyor has already been a great benefit: the Zambian Health Ministry. They used the software to conduct their first-ever malaria survey and were able to reorganize shipments of medicine to villages that were in need of it within weeks. In addition to donations for the project, Dr. Selanikio is most in need of help building a sustainable business model to keep this revolutionary idea going. If you have the experience and would like to help, visit the site and get in touch. [EpiSurveyor via BBG]

Short answer: hot. Long answer: We're not reading the comments of anyone who disagrees. [product via 7gadgets]

The company literally trains bees as a police force might train dogs. Using Pavlovian principles, the bees are given a food reward when they sniff, let's say, cocaine. Over time, the bees are conditioned to stick out their tongues in hunger over the smell of this substance.

Then, in a highly scientific operation, the bees are taped to your measurement device. A camera closely tracks the bee tongues while the you pray that the SWAT team really is on their way (lest you need to release your "measurement device" for self-defense).

We're planning on going back to bed now. And when we wake up, we'd better not see any more bee bomb detectors. [product via geekologie]

While a 90% recognition rate is 10% from perfect, such tests could become excellent prescreening methods, especially as the functional database grows to identify more and rarer conditions. This is why...er...my friend refuses to get cosmetic surgery. One day doctors will scan...his...face and have a solid argument on why he still wets the bed and needs to sleep with choochoo blankets. And just think of the efficient future when compact cameras use smile detectors that spot autism. [scotsman via spluch]

Volunteers were asked to try and outrun a virtual predator who was stalking them round a maze. If he caught up with them, Bzzzzzt! they were given a shock to the hand.

If the ghostie was far away, players used the prefrontal cortex region of the brain, which deals with complex planning tasks. If the ghostie got up close and personal with Pac-Man, brain activity shifted to the periaqueductal gray, a more primitive area which governs quick-response survival mechanisms, such as fight, flight or freeze.

The research will be used to help scientists better understand anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks. [Guardian Unlimited]

Scientists have invented a gel that mimics human tissue. By combining the gel with the microchip, chances that the body will reject the device are far less likely. The entire project is said to be five years from implementation.

Personally, I'd love to see these microchips developed for civilian use, especially for diabetics and those who need constant blood work. But when framed as a government, military initiative, the altruistic potential can be scared off by Big Brother. [intelligencedaily via inquirer]