Health and Wellbeing

I've tested a fair few gadgets in my time at Gizmag – from upmarket beanbags to high-powered motorcycles and smart pens. But I've never been asked to go this far outside my comfort zone for a story – even though our esteemed editorial team will probably tell you my whole life has been building to this. Today, I'm road testing a masturbation device. And I've decided to put my name to it because despite all the squeamish details you're about to read, this is a significant piece of technology – a big step down the path of remote sexual interaction. Tally ho!  Read More

While the detrimental effects of inhaling secondhand tobacco smoke are well-documented, it can be difficult to determine just how much of that smoke people are exposed to. After all, we know that smokers inhale smoke from each of their cigarettes, but what percentage of that smoke reaches their family members or co-workers? Scientists at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College have created a portable sensor, in order to find out.  Read More

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a technology to measure a person’s pulse from a facial image taken by scans from the built-in camera in a PC, smartphone or tablet. Fujitsu’s goal is to help people to track their health data in real-time and store it in the cloud for later analysis.  Read More

Help may be on the way for people suffering from severe anorexia nervosa. Quite often, anorexics can be more or less cured via approaches such as psychotherapy. In particularly treatment-resistant cases, however, the condition continues unabated, sometimes even to the point of death. For people in that latter category, a recent study indicates that Deep Brain Stimulation might be the answer.  Read More

If you spend much time outdoors in the summer, then you doubtless know how important it is to wear sunscreen. That said, you probably also know that just applying it once before you first go outside isn’t good enough – for sufficient protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, periodic reapplications are also necessary. The UVeBand is a new wearable device, that’s designed to let you know when it’s time for those reapplications.  Read More

It took some time, but the age of the cyborg is upon us. For the first time, neuromuscular electrodes that enable a prosthetic arm and hand to be controlled by thought have been permanently implanted into the nerves and muscles of an amputee. The operation was carried out recently by a surgical team led by Dr Rickard Brånemark at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden.  Read More

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a device known as a PoNS, that shows promise for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries, strokes, or the effects of diseases such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. Researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command are now conducting a study on the device, which works by stimulating the patient’s tongue.  Read More

Researchers from the Munich University of Technology (TUM) have created a high-tech wall designed to help the elderly continue to live at home by providing assistance in everyday tasks and monitoring their health. The "wonderwall" can find misplaced keys and glasses, check blood pressure and blood sugar levels and, in the event of a critical health problem, call the local doctor or mobile nursing service.  Read More

While the word prosthesis usually evokes images of artificial legs, arms, and these days even sophisticated thought-controlled hands, an entirely new class of replacement body part has now become a reality – the bionic eye. One of the pioneers in this field is California-based Second Sight and the company has now announced that its Argus II System has received U.S. market approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Read More