Health tech

You could lose weight when your avatar exercises

When I was a varsity swimmer in high school, I was taught creative visualization, which is a fancy way of saying that I would sit in a quiet place, close my eyes, and imagine myself in an upcoming race -- stroke for stroke. I could feel the temperature of the water, the pounding of my heart, the overwhelming urge to breathe as I sliced through the water without once turning my head for air. It was a mental rather than physical exercise, and for me at least, it translated to faster racing times.

For years, researchers have investigated this phenomenon, and now a new little study out of Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education finds that watching an avatar model healthy behaviors can actually help women lose weight in the real world.… Read more

3D-printed cast is made to scratch

It usually goes like this. You break your arm. You get a big plaster cast. Your friends sign it and draw on it. You invest in chopsticks in an attempt to get at the never-ending itches hiding beneath. Designer Jake Evill has a better idea. His Cortex exoskeletal cast concept uses 3D printing to create a custom cast that is strong, lightweight, and full of sweet, sweet air holes.

"After many centuries of splints and cumbersome plaster casts that have been the itchy and smelly bane of millions of children, adults and the aged alike, the world over, we at last bring fracture support into the 21st century," writes Evill, who just graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. … Read more

Future of search and rescue: Cockroaches piloted by Kinect

File this one under the grossly, absurdly, and perhaps soon patently awesome. Researchers at North Carolina State University say they have developed a system by which cockroaches may actually perform search and rescue.

Using Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect, they plotted a path for cockroaches and tracked them. Researchers nudged the roaches into motion with wires attached to the bugs' sensory appendages, and they steered the roaches by sending small electrical impulses to wires attached to the bugs' antennae. The old-fashioned horse and whip are just so crude by comparison.

Still, why the cockroach? Presumably their size could prove useful in … Read more

A solid step toward vaccinating against type 1 diabetes

Most vaccines work by giving the immune system a crash course in how to attack bacteria or viruses. The goal is to protect against diseases -- think influenza, polio, and smallpox, which have collectively killed tens of millions of people in recent history.

Now an experimental vaccine being developed at Stanford University uses an entirely different approach to get at the same end goal -- protecting against type 1 diabetes by instructing a diabetic's immune system to stop attacking its own body.… Read more

Device aims to eliminate multiple breast-cancer surgeries

A prototype device created by John Hopkins University grad students can enable a pathologist to inspect excised breast tissue mid-surgery to determine whether a cancerous tumor has been fully removed.

The prototype's ability to dramatically reduce the time to inspect breast tissue -- down to as quickly as 20 minutes -- could ultimately decrease, if not flat out eliminate, the need for a second operation on the same tumor, John Hopkins announced this week.

One in five women who have surgery to remove cancerous breast tissue have to go back for follow-up surgery because not all the diseased tissue … Read more

Disabled duck gets new 3D-printed foot

When he was born in a high school biology lab last November, little Buttercup wasn't like all the other ducklings: His left foot was turned backward, making getting around a bit of a trial for the little guy. Although his caregiver at the school worked on turning the foot around the right way, it couldn't quite get there.

So when he was transferred to Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary in Arlington, Tenn., new owner Mike Garey realized pretty quickly that something had to be done.

"With his deformed foot, he would have been in pain and had constant cuts and foot infections walking on the side of it even at our sanctuary here, and foot infections on these guys is always a serious matter," Garey said. … Read more

'Bridge of Life' projects messages to prevent suicides

Of all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, South Korea has by far the highest suicide rate -- 28.4 per 100,000 people per year according to the OECD, making it the most common cause of death for people under 40.

And one bridge over the Han River, the Mapo Bridge, has been dubbed the Bridge of Death for its unfortunate popularity among those seeking to end their own life. Between 2007 and 2012, more than 100 people attempted suicide from the Mapo Bridge.

To try to counteract the number of deaths from the bridge, the Seoul City government didn't build a high fence or suicide barrier; instead, it teamed with Samsung Life Insurance to take a different path, adding interactive handrails that speak directly to passersby. … Read more

Sensoria smart socks may do more than help you run better

A slew of fancy pedometers has hit the market in recent years, capturing a range of data to help people know how many steps they've taken, how far they've gone, how many calories they've burned, and even one's sleep quality.

Well move over Fitbits and Omrons, because a new kid is moving to the block. Redmond, Wash.-based startup Heapsylon is launching an $87,000 crowdfunding campaign

today on Indiegogo to wrap up product development and manufacturing of its highly anticipated Sensoria Fitness system, replete with smart socks, electronic anklet, and virtual coach mobile app.

… Read more

Smile! We know how fast your heart is beating

Have you ever noticed your head rocking back and forth very slightly when you sit still? That's the effect of blood rushing up to feed your brain.

Now Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers can accurately measure that phenomenon on regular video and figure out how fast someone's heart is beating. They say it might help detect cardiac disease.

The scientists at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory believe the algorithm could be used for video monitoring of patients with sensitive skin, such as newborns or elderly people. … Read more