LAS VEGAS--How would you feel if you were hospitalized and your doctor were talking to you through a 5-foot robot?

RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant) is a remote-, iPad-operated telepresence bot. It's become the first self-navigating communications robot to receive FDA certification, developers InTouch and iRobot said at CES 2013.

The machine is approved "for telemedicine consults inclusive of active patient monitoring in high-acuity environments where immediate clinical action may be required," InTouch said in a release. Specifically, it's cleared for "active patient monitoring in pre-operative, peri-operative and post-surgical settings, including cardiovascular, neurological, prenatal, psychological, and critical care assessments and examinations." … Read more

LAS VEGAS--If you ever wanted to know what it would feel like to have Mick Jagger massage the knots in your back muscles while you listen to "Tumbling Dice," then I have the perfect gadget for you. The iMusic BodyRhythm massage vest sits over your shoulders and upper back. Plug it into your iPhone, fire up the app, and enjoy a rubdown to the beat of your favorite song.

I got to try out a fully functioning prototype of the vest at CES 2013. The vest's creator Uwe Diegel hooked me up with some "Gangnam Style" massage action. I could see going for the full-album experience and having an extended session with "Exile on Main Street." It would be a very different way of experiencing the music.… Read more

Quick! Which keys on your keyboard are the filthiest? The most infested with nasty germs?

Come on down, E, S, T, return, and space bar! You're the most likely to harbor abhorrent bugs like E. coli. We need you to communicate but hate your freeloaders. What to do?

Enter the Influsaber, an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

This wand from Japan's J-Force slays bugs with ultraviolet rays, namely UV-C light, which can penetrate the outer walls of viruses and bacteria, altering their genetic structure and killing them. … Read more

My brother has told me that if a manned Mars mission were seeking volunteers, he'd be the first in line, even if it meant never coming back. I wouldn't want him to go, but my desire to keep him Earth-bound is even more intense after checking out a new study on the impact of radiation on potential manned Mars missions.

A study published in PLOS One looks at the effects of galactic cosmic radiation on mice. Researchers exposed the mice to particle irradiation like that found in space. The result was cognitive impairment in line with the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.… Read more

No matter how much you keep up with technology, it's challenging to predict its impact past a few years down the road. There are so many possibilities on the horizon -- especially considering the non-stop advancements in connectivity, nanotechnology, and other expanding fields of next-gen science -- that future generations may think of the early 2000s in the same way we think of the early 1900s: as a time when society stood on the cusp of incredible change.

A new BBC Future infographic takes a shot at what could happen in the realm of science, technology, and society as a whole from now to 2150. The predictions, which come from a cavalcade of sources (IBM, MIT, NASA, news outlets, and many others), indicate that the world we know today could be largely different in just a decade. … Read more

Most of us have sent a garbled text or two (or dozens) in our day, and probably received more than our share as well. But such disoriented messages can in some rare cases move beyond the parlance of speedy modern-day communication to signal a health emergency, Harvard scientists caution.

In a study published online in the Archives of Neurology last week, the researchers coin the term "dystexia" to describe a confused text message that may indicate neurological dysfunction.

They cite the case of a 25-year-old pregnant woman who sent her husband a series of confusing messages about their baby's due date following a routine doctor's appointment. … Read more

Anyone who's had surgery would probably agree that being wheeled into the operating room can prove quite the anxiety-producing ride.

A London design studio has come up with a wonderfully creative way to calm young patients en route to surgery -- interactive wallpaper that turns clinical corridor walls into a magical forest to engage and distract the kids as they journey toward their procedure.

The installation, called Nature Trail, fills about 165 feet of corridor walls in part of the Mittal Children's Medical Centre at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. … Read more

Jan Scheuermann can't use her limbs to feed herself, but she's pretty good at grabbing a chocolate bar with her robot arm.

She's become the first to demonstrate that people with a long history of quadriplegia can successfully manipulate a mind-controlled robot arm with seven axes of movement. Earlier experiments had shown that robot arms work with brain implants.

Scheuerman was struck by spinocerebellar degeneration in 1996. A study on the brain-computer interface (BCI) linking Scheuermann to her prosthetic was published online in this month's issue of medical journal The Lancet.

Training on the BCI allowed her to move an arm and manipulate objects for the first time in nine years, surprising researchers.

It took her less than a year to be able to seize a chocolate bar with the arm, after which she declared, "One small nibble for a woman, one giant bite for BCI." Check it out in the video below. … Read more

Styrofoam, a plastic shell, and your own head are the only things separating your brain from the curb if you have an accident. It's a standard setup that most helmet designers use, but that arguably doesn't go far enough, as concussions are still one of the most common injuries bikers suffer in an accident.

What differentiates 6D Helmets' new products are the dual layers designed to protect a rider's head from a broader range of impact than standard helmets -- in particular, low-threshold energy impacts. A standard helmet is certainly useful in high-speed collisions, but 6D's "Omni-Directional Suspension System," or ODS, aims to keep motocross bikers safer in accidents involving less than 10mph of force. … Read more