Health

Although melanoma is one of the less common types of skin cancer, it is responsible for the majority (around 75 percent) of skin cancer related deaths. Part of the problem is that current diagnoses rely on subjective clues such as size, shape and coloring of a mole. With the aim of providing an objective measurement as to whether a lesion may be malignant, researchers at John Hopkins University have developed a prototype non-invasive infrared scanning system that works by looking for the tiny temperature difference between healthy tissue and a growing tumor.  Read More

Anesthetists cannot take their responsibilities lightly. Too little anesthetic and a patient may feel the whole procedure, too much and a patient might shuffle off this mortal coil. Researchers in the Canary Islands have taken the guesswork out of this thorny dilemma and developed a computer-controlled system that measures a patient's hypnotic state and applies the appropriate dose of anesthetic.  Read More

Sport is tough on the body, and one of the major health risks from being active is permanent damage to cartilage around the joints. Humans are unable to regenerate cartilage once they are adults and often have to live with little relief from painful joints or osteoarthritis, but researchers at Northwestern University are the first to design a bio-active nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Good new sports fans...  Read More

What kid doesn’t like kicking around a soccer ball? Imagine if this fun activity could also provide enough energy to power something useful in a modest off-grid African village, like a reliable light to cook by or an emergency mobile phone. The sOccket is a prototype soccer ball that captures kinetic energy when it is kicked or thrown, stores it in an internal battery and makes that energy available for a myriad of small but useful purposes. In other words, it’s a fun, portable energy-harvesting power source that is designed to take a kicking.  Read More

With it's rapidly aging population, few countries stand to gain as much from developments in the remote monitoring of bio-signals as Japan. As a culture that reveres the elderly it's likely that the Japanese will be one of the countries leading the charge in the growing field of bio-signal telemetry. Just one example is the HRS-I, or the human recorder system, that gathers health-related information and transmits it wirelessly to a mobile phone or PC.  Read More

Your mother was right – eating your “greens” (which contain magnesium) is good for you. In fact, according to neuroscientists at MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing, rats who were fed a new compound that increased their brain magnesium demonstrated enhanced learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory. The dietary supplement also boosted older rats’ ability to perform a variety of learning tests. Great, if it’s not hard enough getting rid of the rodents now, imagine trying to remove smarter rats!  Read More

If you’ve stacked on a few too many pounds over the festive season, this could be just the thing to help turn the tide. Withings, maker of the world’s first WiFi-connected personal scale has integrated its product with the Google Health service. The Withings WiFi Body Scale can provide updates to a user’s Google Health profile in real-time using its built-in WiFi connection.  Read More

Study the picture above – is that how you look at work or are you more like the typical computer slave – hunched forward, limbs at the wrong angles, wrists askew – just a repetitive strain injury waiting to happen? If you suddenly straightened up when you read this and felt the tension in your shoulders, neck, arms and back, is it time to invest in some ergonomic furniture to make your working or gaming life more pleasant and productive and also help justify the money you spent on your computing power? The Envelop is a design inspired by a pioneer in ergonomics, Herman Miller, and has been developed to enhance the human relationship between seated postures and computer-based technology.  Read More

With the possible exception of those singing, mounted fish, there is likely no piece of technology quite so universally hated as the dental drill. Well, a new invention may soon make that device obsolete - in many situations, at least. When it comes to the treatment of cavities, the current approach is to treat small ones with fluoride therapy, then wait for anything larger to reach the stage where it needs to be drilled. Now, dental technology company DMG is offering a cavity infiltration system called Icon, that allows dentists to treat no-longer-small cavities before drilling becomes necessary.  Read More