Thought controlled devices are pretty primitive at this point. Sure, everyone from
Honda to the
U.S. Army (of course) is conducting research, but at this point we don't have much to show for it all besides an evening of
experimental music in Prague. If the kids at Intel have their way, computers will soon be able to look at a person's brain activity and determine actual words that they're thinking. The idea here is that the activity generated in the average person by individual words can be mapped and stored in a database, to be matched against that of someone using the thought control interface. So far, results have been promising -- an early prototype exists that can differentiate between words like screwdriver, house, and barn, by using a magnetic resonance scanner that measures something like 20,000 points in the brain. Anything more effective than that, such as dictating letters or searching Google
with your mind alone is probably years in the future -- though when it does come to pass we expect to see a marked increase in expletive-filled
liveblogs.
Intel's mind reading computer could bring thought controlled interfaces to a whole new, frightening level originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Telegraph (UK) |
Email this |
Comments
Silk: it's stronger than Kevlar, thinner than a human hair, it's biocompatible (it doesn't trigger human immune system response), and it's produced by insects (although some new-fangled
metabolically engineered bacteria seem to be up to the task). Researchers at Tufts University have created a silk and gold
biosensor that can be implanted in the body to keep tabs on proteins and chemicals. One possible use would be to keep track of diabetic's glucose levels, notifying the patient when things go wonky. At the present time, they've only tested the antenna itself -- it was found to resonate at specific frequencies, even when implanted in several layers of muscle tissue (from a pig, mind you). For their next trick, the team will outfit the device with proteins or other molecules to monitor in-vivo chemical reactions.
Implantable antenna designed using silk and gold originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Technology Review |
Email this |
Comments
Even as
prosthetic technology advances, the problem of phantom limb sensation persists. Essentially pain, pressure, or some other stimulus attributed by the brain to a limb that has been lost, the exact cause for this is unknown -- and it's a very real problem for amputees. Hoping to better understand (and someday maybe eliminate) the phenomenon, researchers at the University of Jena in Germany have developed a prosthesis that uses sensors and a stimulation unit to send feedback from the patient's artificial hand back to the brain, offering some relief to the individual in the process. So far, the team has had some success, but as the school's Dr. Thomas Weiss points out, there is quite a bit of work yet to be done to determine if "the hand is helpful to only a few people or if it is a therapeutic for all wearers of artificial limbs."
New prosthesis sends feedback to the brain, might alleviate phantom pain originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Gizmag |
Email this |
Comments
Find out how a particle accelerator will be used to make rare isotopes used for nuclear medicine.
More »
Physics -
Nuclear medicine -
Medicine -
Nuclear -
Particle
Biochip bracelets be damned -- nanoengineers at
UC San Diego want to put sensors in your skivvies. Reseachers have begun prototyping a pair of tighty-whiteys coated with the requisite carbon electrodes to make electrochemical computing a reality, as it turns out the nether regions are a prime place to measure chemicals excreted in one's sweat. Until recently, there was some question whether the enzyme sensor solution would handle the stresses of daily life, so to speak, but these briefs were up to the task -- subjected to a torturous gauntlet of bending and stretching, a treated elastic waistband was still able to adequately measure chemicals as required. Funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, project leaders envision "smart underwear" that measures a soldier's sweat for warning signs and automatically trigger an appropriate medical dosage. We think they might be getting a wee bit ahead of themselves, though -- we don't yet know how they handle detergent, let alone a quality color-safe bleach. Video after the break, but don't expect any footage of the underpants actually being worn.
Continue reading Scientists create sweat-monitoring underwear, break them in (video)
Scientists create sweat-monitoring underwear, break them in (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
PhysOrg |
UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering |
Email this |
Comments
A new £300 million ($445 million) hospital is set to open up soon in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Why would you care about that? Maybe because laser-guided robots will play a fundamental role in the facility's daily running, including the
disposal of waste, delivery of meals, cleaning of operating theaters, and (
gulp!) drug dispensation. We're told they'll have their own underground
lair corridors and dedicated lifts, with humanoid employees able to call them up via a PDA. It's believed that using robots to perform the dirty work will be more sanitary than current methods, but we have to question the
sanity of anyone who believes this isn't the first step toward the robot rebellion. Well, it's been nice knowing you guys.
Robots to invade Scottish hospital, pose as 'workers' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
BBC |
Email this |
Comments
Each day, the physical capabilities that technology gives us is incredible, and we're not just talking about texting friends at lightening pace, or the ability to see our energy consumption in real time. We're talking about the abilities given to us by new tech in the health industry, either to supplement or restore disabilities experienced by people across the globe.
More »
Health -
Medicine -
Health System -
United States -
Health care
What if forensics experts could use a microscopic sample of DNA to figure out what a criminal suspect looks like? No, it's not science fiction. In just a few years, investigators may be reconstructing suspects' faces from DNA. [
io9]
More »
DNA -
Science in Society -
Forensic Science -
Testing Services -
United States
Being a Parkinson's disease sufferer, and previously having prostate cancer,
Andrew Grove knows all to well the ins and outs of hospital life. That's partly why the ex-CEO and chairman of Intel has pumped money into "translational medicine" research.
More »
Health -
Medical research -
Conditions and Diseases -
Parkinson's disease -
Cancer
