This product has been used in battle for the last couple of years and now it appears you can get your own. It’s called the BattleView Infrared Vascular Trans-illuminator and is made specifically for situations where using visible light might get you killed. Like setting up triage on the side of a mountain at night in Afghanistan for example, where lighting your helmet light simply gives the enemy a beacon for your location. The BattleView features 4 near-infrared LEDs running off a single 3-volt CR123A lithium battery. Put it on a patient’s hand (or other body part) and the venous blood will fluoresce making it instantly visible to anyone wearing night vision goggles. You’re then free to get your IV going as if it was broad daylight.
The fact that it’s near-infrared also means that it will
There are several ways to detect colorectal cancer. The more uncomfortable of them involve a colonoscopy, which is pretty much the insertion of a camera down the wrong end of you. Another method has been to swallow a pill sized camera while doctors get a view from within you without having to you know, actually go in… And now there’s news of the Check-Cap, a pill that emits radiation outside the visible spectrum (XRays), which go through soft tissue and food.
Yeah, Japan again. We love you guys, but what’s with these things? The above image shows a poor lady being paid to demonstrate the Face Slimmer Exercise Mouthpiece. You put it in there and say vowels repeatedly, allegedly exercising the muscles in your face and getting rid of wrinkles and sag.
But why does it have to… look like that? You and I know what this looks like. The kids don’t know. But we know what’s going on here.
Remember how in the movie The Matrix, humans were used as energy sources by the machines? I personally thought the idea was inefficient; why not make batteries or something? But still, it appears that we are now the machines and have been able to rig a poor cockroach up with electrodes and squeeze out some measurable amount of electricity. “Maximum power density reached nearly 100 microwatts per square centimeter at 0.2 volts. Maximum current density was about 450 microamps per square centimeter.” It’s the chemical within the roach that power this particular reaction. And if you want the gritty details of how it was done, just hit the jump for a fuller description and links.
Sadly, it’s not a jolt of electricity but rather a more gentle vibration that discreetly points out that you’re standing in a less than optimal manner. This is bad for you as it can cause aches, can damage your heart and lungs, and lead to gastrointestinal issues. So now a pair of suspenders specially modified with conductive elastics, an Arduino Pro Mini, a battery, and said vibrator all combine to create an on-the-fly posture corrector. The sensor fabric changes its electric resistance as it stretches and the software continually monitors this, encouraging you to maintain the right tension, which is associated with the right posture.
There appears to be a crude prototype at the moment, though we’re finding no signs of a price or availability.
Keyboards are really some of the most disgusting items in your household. You’re constantly flaking off dead skin cells and finger oil and it all falls through the cracks where it builds this layer of bioscum, which is a wonderful nesting ground for bacteria of all kinds. The only thing dirtier is maybe paper money. Now, when you’re at home, you just learn to give your immune system a good workout, but in medical settings, a dirty keyboard can mean someone dying. That’s why it’s a good thing the Vioguard has gotten clearance from the FDA to be marketed as a self-sanitizing alternative. It features a proximity sensor that will eject the keyboard when you need it. Otherwise it’s housed inside its UV resistant receptacle where it’ll not only be away from circulating air, it’ll be exposed to strong UV rays that are known to destroy viruses and bacteria (even the scary MRSA). The Vioguard uses 80W when actively sanitizing (a process that takes 60-90 seconds), and 3W on standby. The lamp is good for 40,000 disinfection cycles while the mechanism stands up to 300,000 uses.
There’s no word on price but as this looks like a medical application, we’re thinking it ain’t cheap.
You may just be old enough to remember the “mood ring” fad of the 80s and 90s. Yes, this editor had one and yes, they were junk. But Affectiva’s Q-Sensor 2.0 is in another mood-sensing ballpark altogether. On the underside of the device is a pair of sensors measuring the galvanic skin response, which is an indicator of physiological or psychological arousal. The device just measures your skin’s electrical conductance, which varies with changing levels of moisture. Since the sympathetic nervous system controls sweat glands, it gives insight into whether you’re stressed/excited or not. Galvanic skin response sensors are one component of polygraph tests and have been in use for quite some time. The Q-Sensor 2.0 also measures temperature and movement, puts all the data together into its software and determines your mood. And yes, it can then Tweet about it if you want.
The thing is, the device costs $2,000. That’s a lot of cash for personal use. It is being marketed for professional use, where there might be an advantage in accurately determining a person’s mood.
It’s no secret that gadgets like computers, digital cameras and smartphones have changed our lives. Though there is some argument about whether the changes many of these devices bring are good or bad, there’s one group that is definitely changing our lives for the better, and that’s in the field of health science. Not every digital consumable can make us healthier, but here are five health science gadgets that do.
A Smartphone For Your Heart
Thanks to the Cardio Defender from Everist Genomics, your smartphone can now actually do something to keep your heart healthy. The Cardio Defender turns your smartphone into a portable ECG device that can keep a constant lookout for heart problems by detecting a variety of changes in heart rhythm that may indicate a problem. A sensor bracelet that resembles a watch collects data and beams it wirelessly to your smartphone, which analyzes and stores it. If a problem is detected, not only do you receive an alert, but the data can also be sent to your physician for instant analysis. If a problem doesn’t arrive, your doctor can still use the collected data to determine the health of your heart and approaching problems.
To borrow Greg Giraldo’s words, we live during an obesity epidemic. An epidemic! And as some astute readers might have noticed, consumer electronics manufacturers are jumping at the opportunity to help you combat the cheese cakes and fried chicken with a bevy of gadgets. We personally took a look at the FitBit, a small plastic device which tracks your every step and reports online. It was a great little device, but it was only able to tell you how much you walked and how many steps you took. Now, thinking heads at the University of Pittsburgh claim to have developed a similar gadget, but one that one-ups all the others by being able to automatically record what you eat, where you’ve been, how long you sat your bum in front of the TV or a computer, how long you were outside, which restaurants you visited and what you ordered. It’s called the eButton and represents the end of the era of self-accountability. We’re not entirely sure just how it goes about determining your calorie intake automatically, but Mingui Sun, lead investigator and Pitt professor of neurosurgery and electrical and computer engineering, says the eButton uses “cameras, GPS and an array of other sensors” for the task. We bet they’re using Mechanical Turk.
In any case, the eButton is not ready for prime-time as it’s in the middle of a study to determine if it actually, you know, works properly.
Related Tags: Medical, Military
Permalink | 
No Comments
By David Ponce
