Innovative, Interesting, or Important
There’s too much technology news to keep up with every day.
Now you don’t have to. We’ll do it for you.
Our mission here is to highlight only the developments that
have long-term implications, instead of instantly-obsolete news like an updated
app. We’ll spotlight only the innovations that we believe will still be
important a year from now.
Top Topic: Enhanced
humanity
This week’s digest is all about additions, enhancements, and
fixes for our own bodies. Kinda strange how this surplus of people-improving
news occurred all-but simultaneously, but when it comes to good news like this,
hey, we’ll take it!
This weeks headlines:
1.
Climb like a gecko
2.
Quadriplegic’s mind moves robot hand; amputee
controls arms
3.
New knees printed in 3D; full limb prototyped
4.
Electronic skin detects pressure direction
5.
Phone accessory helps diagnose ear infection
6.
Mouth guard lessens athletic brain injuries
7.
Faster DNA diagnosis may fight viral outbreaks
8.
“Printing”… livers?
9.
Intel improves Hawking’s communication
10.
Mouse is controlled by eye movement; Menu tracks
eyes
1. Climb like a gecko
You might think “Spider-man” as you look at the photo, but
“Gecko-man” would be more accurate.
Scientists at Stanford
have duplicated the adhesive used by the lizards to climb just about
anywhere. They layered a silicone material in microscopic wedges. The synthetic
pads “only work on smooth surfaces like plastic and glass,” Gizmodo reports.
2. Quadriplegic’s
mind moves robot hand; amputee controls
arms
A quadriplegic woman
moved the hand of a robot arm with her thoughts.
Researchers at
the University of Pittsburgh say
the “first time 10-dimension brain control of a prosthetic device” shows they can
interpret signals from neurons with a simple computer algorithm “to generate
sophisticated, fluid movements that allow the user to interact with the
environment.”
Also: a man controlled
two prosthetic arms wired into his nerves by doctors at Johns Hopkins. Popular Science reports on “the
first shoulder-level double amputee to wear and control two complex,
mind-controlled prosthetic limbs.”
3. New knees printed in 3D; full limb prototyped
Okay, not the whole knee: Researchers at Columbia devised a way to replace the
meniscus protective lining. They used a 3D-printed implant “infused with human
growth factors that prompt the body to regenerate the lining on its own,” Science Daily reports. “The therapy,
successfully tested in sheep, could provide the first effective and
long-lasting repair of damaged menisci, which occur in millions of Americans
each year and can lead to debilitating arthritis.” Here is
the full article.
Also: a man is prototyping a 3D printed custom prosthetic
leg. The artificial limb will be made
from laser-printed titanium, and may be cheaper as well as more durable, functional,
and comfortable than traditional models, BoingBoing
reports. The full
story is here.
4. Electronic skin detects pressure direction
New “electronic skin” detect and differentiates various
stimuli including the direction of the pressure.
Researchers in Korea developed the stretchable technology that
could have applications in prosthetic limbs, robotics, wearable electronics,
remote surgery, and biomedical devices, Kurzweil
AI reports. The artificial skin is constructed of piezo-resistive
microdome arrays made from carbon nanotubes and silicone. It’s design is “inspired
by the interlocked epidermal layers in human skin.”
5. Phone accessory helps diagnose ear infection
When an otoscope
attaches to a smartphone and works with an app to send video to a medical
professional for diagnosis, it “provides a number of benefits,” Popular Science reports, “such as not
having to tote a crying child to the doctor's office… developer CellScope aims
to have a response for you within two hours.”
The Oto Home costs
$79, and each remote consultation costs $49.
“The smartphone is
proving to be a huge platform for medical devices,” PopSci adds. “Equipment
that used to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars can now be had for a
fraction of that cost, in a form that is easy to transport, and in a package
that also makes it easy for remote medicine. Not only does that potentially
enable diagnoses without even leaving home, but it also brings quality medical
care to places that a doctor may not be able to reach easily.”
6. Mouth guard may lessen athletic brain injuries
It doesn’t actually
prevent impact, but by tracking when injury may have occurred, a new device may
prompt proper medical treatment that could alleviate long-term damage. The mouth
guard worn by football players and other athletes has data sensors that relay
real-time head impact data for concussion management protocols, says developer I1
Biometrics.
The Kirkland, Wash
company’s mouth guard “accurately measure the linear and rotational
accelerations of head impacts during sports and training activities,” it says. The company’s site is here.
7.Faster DNA diagnosis may fight viral
outbreaks
With a new technique, researchers in genetic health can
accurately genotype extremely small and challenging samples with minimal
hands-on time.
Fluidigm says its Juno is
a “first-of-its-kind revolution.” Engadget
reports that in less than three hours the device can “extract DNA, pre-amplify
it (to make the genes readable) and test it all in a single step, saving
testers from coming back multiple times to move things along.”
What might be the result? “The easier and faster it is to
study genomes, the quicker doctors can diagnose patients and respond to viral
outbreaks,” Fluidigm says.
8. “Printing”… livers?
Bio-printing developer Organovo
is selling liver. It’s not a meat-packer, however: instead the mini-livers are
made in-house with a 3D printing system, and will be sold to pharmaceutical
companies, where the artificial organs will be used to test experimental drugs.
Organovo is also working on larger patches of organ-specific
tissue, “which doctors could potentially graft onto ailing organs in the future,”
Popular Science reports.
9. Intel improves
Hawking’s communication
Intel Labs developed
new technology that helps physicist Stephen
Hawking communicate better.
Hawking is nearly paralyzed from a motor neuron disease,
which affects more than 3 million people worldwide. The new Assistive Context Aware Toolkit was
developed with input from Hawking, USA
Today reports. It has a cheek-mounted sensor, an infrared switch attached
to eyeglasses, and a predictive typing app. Hawking says “the development of
this system has the potential to improve the lives of disabled people around
the world.”
The customizable platform will be available to researchers
and developers in January, the newspaper notes. The
full story is here.
10. Mouse is controlled
by eye movement; Menu tracks eyes
An “eye mouse” will allow people with disabilities to edit
documents or browse the Web “through simple eye movement,” Samsung claims.
The EyeCan technology
is the first of its kind, “as it does not require users to wear any device,
such as glasses,” Samsung says. “Instead, a single-unit sits below the monitor,
and works by wirelessly calibrating with the user's eye.” There are 18 commands
that “solely require eye movement and blinking, and each command can be
selected by looking directly at the relevant icon and blinking once.”
The design will be offered open source, the company adds. There’s more information
here.
Also: It’s not reading your mind. Not quite.
A new menu system tracks your eye movement to discern what
food you are most interested in.
It’s now being tested at a Pizza Hut, the
UK’s Telegraph reports, where it can
figure out what pizza toppings you want. It’s built by Tobii Technology of Sweden. You can see a video
demonstration here.
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