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The most interesting latest news on the topic: Innovations & Inventions |
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Needle-less injections may soon transform the lives of diabetics everywhere, as medical technology continues to empower patients with non-invasive, mobile diagnostic tools.
MIT researchers created a high-velocity jet injector capable of delivering medicine without breaking the skin. The electromagnetically powered device injects patients through a miniscule needle at nearly the speed of sound, mimicking the barely noticeable pinch of a mosquito bite. Current jet injection devices deliver a limited range of doses at the same depth, but MIT's creation can adjust to varying volumes and skin thickness, according to Catherine Hogan of the school's Department of Mechanical Engineering. "If I'm breaching a baby's skin to deliver vaccine, I won't need as much pressure as I would need to breach my skin," Hogan explained. "We can tailor the pressure profile to be able to do that, and that's the beauty of this device." This technology, if it becomes a commercial success, may prevent children from screaming at the doctor's office, as well as help diabetic patients surmount fears of self-injection. "If you are afraid of needles and have to frequently self-inject, compliance can be an issue," said Hogan. "We think this kind of technology... gets around some of the phobias that people may have about needles." Non-invasive technology like this continues to make strides in the mobile market, where users increasingly leverage their phones as medical devices. Modified iPhones can now measure blood sugar non-invasively, thanks to Professor Heather Clark at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Clark's invention requires an iPhone to read and analyze the florescence levels of a harmless nanoparticle solution beneath patients' skin, which glows when exposed to glucose. Researchers at Korea's Advanced Institute for Science and Technology last fall developed a way to analyze drops of saliva on smartphone screens, making it theoretically possible to diagnose patients who spit on their phones. And a non-invasive wireless heart monitor created at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne can alert doctors immediately about irregular heart rhythms, possibly preventing the need for implants in some cases. Mobile apps like these may greatly improve healthcare, but they will have to face FDA reviews before going to market. However, regulation is moving much more slowly than the pace of innovation, with the FDA taking over a year to approve Mobisante's smartphone-based ultrasound, for example. If Mobisante's experience is any indication, MIT's device may face a long wait before finally reaching consumers, endangering its success as stagnation invites irrelevancy. Still, considering the widespread distaste for needles, needle-less injections will likely enjoy instant popularity no matter when they first hit shelves. |
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Tablet owners may soon unlock their devices using biometric sensors, as security technology progresses beyond traditional passwords.
Napa Sae-Bae, a graduate student at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, is creating an iPad app to verify users' hand shape and finger length. Sae-Bae's biometric analyzing algorithm has already yielded a 90 percent accuracy rate, suggesting her innovation may have widespread application when it debuts in a year. This project improves on Sae-Bae's existing tablet app, which unlocks iPads in response to hand gestures like palm rotation. "Unlike gestures, fingerprints are physiological physical traits that you can't change," she explained about her current research. "There's the feeling that these are supposed to be secure and private." Biometric identification research like Sae-Bae's may revolutionize the mobile industry if it succeeds, as consumers demand new and better ways to protect their data against hackers. A hospital in Canada already uses fingerprint scanners to verify doctors' identities, allowing them to reach medical records with one swipe rather than entering long passwords. Fujitsu, a Japanese company, is developing another kind of biometric sensor called PalmSecure that recognizes users' vein patterns instead of fingerprints or hand length. The company maintains that hand veins never change, while fingerprints and other external hand features may fade or scar over time. Echoing Fujitsu's logic, researchers at the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan are building heartbeat scanners to identify mobile phone and tablet owners. Every person's heartbeat is unique, making this biological marker an ideal password. These seemingly foolproof innovations are designed to prevent the increasing incidence of hackers stealing or cracking personal and company passwords. Recent hacks against worldwide governments and corporations suggest no traditional password is safe, not even those at the Pentagon or FBI. Despite the danger, many mobile phone owners and IT departments still use convenient security codes like "password1" or "1234," leaving them easily susceptible to malicious intrusions. But while a palm or retina-scanning app may end the need for such passwords, this technology could also backfire. For example, the facial detection system on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus is easily fooled by a picture, negating its usefulness as a security tool. Biometric identification may discourage today's hackers more effectively than traditional passwords, but like any security tool it will likely challenge a new breed of hackers to twist it for their purposes. |
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Some Indian farmers now use cell phones to activate their irrigation systems, highlighting just how vital mobile technology has become in developing countries.
The $56 Nano Ganesh service connects farmers' mobile phones to electric pumps in their fields, allowing them to remotely "call" the irrigation system rather than manually turning on each pipe. Santosh Ostwal of Pune developed the technology after watching his 84-year-old, crippled grandfather walk several kilometers every midnight to turn on water pumps. As India's electric supply is notoriously unreliable, Ostwal's grandfather was often forced to make multiple return trips through the snake-infested fields. After witnessing this hardship as a boy during the 1970s, Ostwal began a lifelong journey to help rural Indian farmers water their fields more easily. He first tried using an alarm clock to activate irrigation pumps and then switched to radio frequencies. But the second attempt required a large investment and Ostwal barely had money for food, so he made a desperate gamble on mobile technology. "I can tell you within 15 minutes, I got the result using the bulky Motorola T 180 mobile," he recalled. Ostal's 2009 invention is now spreading throughout the subcontinent as well as to Egypt and even Australia, where it benefits the environment by reducing overwatering and saving power. The service may also do well in Africa, where farmers already rely on cell phones for medical help and to prevent crime. Nano Ganesh is just one example of developing countries' growing reliance on mobile technology, which has become especially vital for rural farmers who sometimes lack the infrastructure to access vital resources for their endeavors. MKrishi, another Indian agricultural service, lets farmers snap photos of diseased crops with cell phone cameras and text them to experts for advice on proper pest control. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently began assisting rural Indians by funding mobile inventions, like Ostal's, which help farmers living on less than $2 per day. In Kenya, KickStart helps farmers buy seeds and fertilizer via a text-based layaway program. Using the M-Pesa money transfer service, they can even buy costly irrigation systems in piecemeal payments without running up large debts or consigning away future crops. As mobile farming inventions like Nano Ganesh catch on in developing countries, those previously living in poverty may finally gain the freedom to think beyond daily necessities with a solution that is literally at their fingertips. |
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Forgot your iPhone charger? If you're not too thirsty, just add water.
PowerTrekk, a portable system that uses water to generate hydrogen-based electricity, can re-charge a dying phone even if it is miles away from an outlet. The system uses hydrogen cartridges, which contain a chemical that begins to produce energy when mixed with water. The cartridges, called PowerPukks, are biodegradable and disposable. Developed as an offshoot of a program to bring electricity to underdeveloped rural areas, outdoor goods haven REI will sell the kit for around $200, with hydrogen cartridges running around $3. It would take an astronomical hike in natural gas prices to make the technology feasible for larger-scale projects, so for now, PowerTrekk's source of energy is best for extreme situations for individual users. There are a bevy of unusual ways to charge iPhones cropping up, including a system harnessing energy from viruses and another from footsteps. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army is developing cloth that charges smartphones. These innovations demonstrate a demand for alternative ways to charge electronics, especially as they become linchpins for professional and military communication in areas without easy access to traditional power sources. Those systems are likely less cumbersome than carrying around a PowerTrekk box, but the PowerTrekk box is extremely efficient, which may make it the best bet for use in emergencies -- as long as a the user can reach a viable water source. Each cartridge will re-charge a depleted iPhone two times, and can power LED lights for weeks at a time, which could be crucial to an outdoor sports enthusiast in an emergency. The situation James Franco's character experienced in the film "127 Hours", for example, when he got trapped while hiking without a way to get into contact with anyone, would have turned out to be more like 3 or 4 hours if he'd carried the PowerTrekk. |
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Blind and visually impaired people who have an iPhone handy may not need a guide dog anymore, thanks to an app that guides them through unfamiliar places.
Navatar, the smartphone app created by University of Nevada engineers, helps blind and visually impaired people get around by providing an affordable, portable indoor navigation system. The system uses 3-D sketches of buildings, which are generally accessible through Google's SketchUp program. Once the user enters the information, the app provides step-by-step directions. Navatar may have the sketches pop up automatically in the future, and the team is also considering adding GPS to create an outdoor navigation app. This innovation demonstrates how mobile technology can replace many current solutions to problems for people with disabilities. Although indoor navigation systems already exist, they need expensive hardware that isn't affordable. Navatar's choice to use existing devices like smartphones will likely propel it towards widespread adoption. Smartphone apps are already helping the blind read Braille and do homework by using tactile mobile technology, so people who cannot see can feel vibrations giving them the necessary information. Scientists and engineers are making strides in harnessing advanced technologies for the disabled, but some of them, particularly innovations to help people who cannot walk, are often prohibitively expensive. One of Navatar's concrete advantages is that it will likely be very affordable, since it is a simple app on a smartphone. PETA gave Navatar an award because it decreased the need for guide dogs, but that's not the only potentially cost-cutting recent invention that replaces dog labor with mobile technology. The "e-Nose," a digital bomb-sniffer can help keep dogs out of harm's way by detecting threatening scents digitally. Together with Navatar, the e-Nose demonstrates how mobile technology can interpret the outside world by simulating one of the five senses. People often associate apps with fun games like Angry Birds or entertainment like Facebook and Pandora, but as a platform, apps can offer a stunning variety of services, and Navatar demonstrates how some of these services have the potential to positively impact lives. |
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Several companies are marketing waterproofing technology to protect electronic devices, an endeavor that may revolutionize the mobile market.
P2i, HzO and Liquipel are all competing for commercial clients interested in making their laptops and mobile phones fully submersible. U.K.-based P2i is already "working with virtually all the big names," according to Applications Director Nick Rimmer, who wouldn't disclose specifics but affirmed water-repellent phones will hit the market "within months." The high prices people pay for smartphones, combined with their need to be connected to them at all times, is opening new markets for these innovations. P2i's method for waterproofing a mobile phone involves placing the device in a vacuum chamber and spraying it with chemical agent. An electric current then pulses through the chamber, permanently bonding the waterproofing agent to every atom on the phone's surface. P2i's competitor Liquipel, a California-based startup, lets consumers waterproof their phones at $60 per device. Liquipel is reportedly negotiating at contract with Fujitsu to coat its upcoming tablets and phones, as the company aims to expand its mail-in business. HzO, a Utah-based company, is also developing nano-technology to waterproof electronic devices. The startup says its coating, which covers a phone's internal circuitry, can protect submerged devices for longer than P2i's technology. "We're vastly different from P2i or Liquipel," said HzO president Paul Clayson. "We take a solid chemical, turn it into a gas and introduce it into a vacuum chamber to deposit on the electronics. Our coating is thicker, building layers on top of each other and providing a protection that can endure underwater for extended periods of time." All three companies seek to improve upon past waterproofing techniques, like Keystone Echo's MarineCase and Grace Digital Audio's Eco Pod. The MarineCase is a silicon cover for iPhone that lets users record videos and take pictures in up to twenty feet of water, making it a useful tool for divers. The $50 Eco Pod is another waterproof case made of polycarbonate material that shields phones from drowning. It comes with submersible headphones too, allowing swimmers to enjoy music while doing laps. The iPhone-specific LifeProof case works in up to 6.6 feet of water, meeting military specifications for those leading rugged and active lifestyles. But P2i, HzO and Liquipel may make external waterproof cases unnecessary, if future phones and other electronics use nano-technology coating off the shelves. Such a development would greatly benefit those who live in waterlogged climates, where consumers are willing to pay more for protection from the elements. And accident-prone mobile users will have nothing to fear after dropping their phones in a puddle if nano-technology waterproofing catches on. The possible applications for solid waterproofing technology are endless, as consumers may soon find out should companies like P2i, HzO and Liquipel revolutionize the market. |
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Scientists are helping people with paralysis move objects with their minds, aiding the physical disabled with sophisticated tools.
Brown University researchers successfully completed a trial with two tetraplegic patients, people who have no control over their limbs. As part of their "BrainGate2" study, the researchers developed a neural interface powerful enough to translate users' thoughts to a robotic arm machine, which can complete tasks from commands given by thought alone. The neural interfaces work through tiny devices implanted in the users' brain, requiring surgery, but the promise of the robotic arm is immense -- people who are permanently paralyzed can regain the ability to feed themselves, reach for things, and do a number of activities previously out-of-bounds. The scientists are working to improve the accuracy and speed of the robotic arm, so users can feel confident and empowered while completing tasks with the device, which isn't the only remarkable innovation in the works to empower paralyzed people. A few weeks ago, a paralyzed woman completed the London Marathon using the ReWalk, a bionic suit that allows people with use of their arms to control their legs. Although quadriplegic people cannot use it, paraplegic people can reap enormous benefits from the device, as they can walk around without a wheelchair. The ReWalk, priced at over $69,000, is still prohibitively expensive for most people, and although the BrainGate apparatus is still in clinical trials, it will likely come with a hefty price tag if it becomes available for commercial use. Innovations like eye tracking may help paralyzed people use devices at a more affordable price, but eye tracking does not allow them the precious movement offered by the ReWalk and Brown University's robot. Scientists are making swift progress in technological advances for those with physical challenges, indicating future generations of people with physical disabilities will regain significant control of their bodies. At the same time, the fact that nobody is close to developing affordable innovations suggests the day when these remarkable products are available for everyday people with disabilities is still in the distant future. |
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Brainput, a device that promises to help drivers multitask, may actually put drivers in danger.
Researchers at MIT, Tufts and Indiana University created a portable brain sensor that's small enough to wrap around the forehead. Brainput recognizes when users are multitasking and feeds information to one or more devices ranging from computers to cars, promising to ease the wearer's responsibilities by automating the devices. Brainput operates like a standard-issue brain monitor, but its software responds to brain wave activity, signaling multitasking, and sends information to one of the user's devices. Though researchers experimented with robots, they believe Brainput can help automate cars, military vehicles and a variety of other machines. The idea of "smart cars", or partly automated vehicles, is catching on, especially for their ability to help older drivers stay behind the wheel. And Brainput can work as a smart car accessory, sending the vehicle into an automated state while the driver texts or plays a quick game of "Angry Birds." But distracted driving deaths caused by smartphone use are on the rise, and lawmakers and police are going to great lengths to curb the destructive behavior. Although the campaigns to curb distracted driving are intense, the increasing ubiquity of smartphone use is making it difficult to stomp out altogether. If Brainput takes hold as a car accessory, it throws a curveball at distracted driving opponents, since habitual in-car phone users can defend themselves by claiming their car was being automatically driven. As with other smart car technology, this can do more harm than good, as drivers wouldn't pay attention to the task they delegated. And if Brainput's automatic commands experienced a glitch or a delay, drivers may get in an accident. Like Google's automated cars, currently being test-driven in Nevada, Brainput can give people behind the wheel too much peace of mind, encouraging them to stop paying attention, which leaves everyone on the road at the mercy of a computer program. Brainput is helpful behind a desk, sending messages while attention drifts away. But when the task is as potentially life-and-death, Brainput does more harm than good. |
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Could a brain scan supersede the SAT college entrance exam? One professor says yes, but practical and ethical questions linger.
UC Irvine professor emeritus Richard Haier insists brain scans could replace standardized testing within a lifetime. Haier experiments with brain scans, and his decades-long research revealed brain scans show the most intelligent people often have highly efficient brains. Haier summarized how brain scans could process data about the quality and quantity of grey matter and synapse activity to make assumptions about someone's job suitability, saying, "The brain imaging data algorithms that combine all this information could well give an accurate indication of your intelligence and your cognitive strengths and weaknesses -- maybe even your vocational talents." The most intelligent people did not have a surplus of brain activity while they solved a puzzle, suggesting their brains needed to work less to come up with the correct answers. Haier is overly optimistic about society's ability to rectify the tangle of social issues springing from measuring someone's worth by their brain function. The SAT already comes under criticism for being less objective than it seems, as certain demographics receive educations that better equip them for the test than others. But for all its faults, the fact that someone of average intelligence can master the SAT if they try hard enough illustrates the test can reward both naturally brilliant people and workhorses. Doctors use brain scans to diagnose strokes, so why is diagnosing intelligence different and far more dangerous? Scanning the brain and coming to a conclusion about how much a person can accomplish intellectually may prevent people of average intelligence from pursuing far-fetched dreams of math super-stardom, but a brain scan determining aptitude may needlessly circumscribe the lives of a larger percentage of the population by placing limits on their ambitions. Not everyone who comes up with a brilliant idea or implements a complex assignment accomplishes the task with ease -- hard work and luck often trump natural inclination, and telling people not to bother trying will do much more harm than good. A brain scan will measure cognitive ability, but not drive, motivation, commitment or emotional intelligence, which are all often integral to success. Replacing the SAT with a brain scan would hurt people who are not natural savants, but who work incredibly hard to maximize their potential. The world needs both kinds of people, and judging students and potential employees only on their natural aptitude may reward people who are content to rest on their laurels, and punish people who work hard to learn new things, which will make for a less-balanced society. Students who want to understand how their brains work may want to take the brain scan as a diagnostic test, but parents, admissions officers and job boards should not use the scan to decide where or what children study, or what jobs are suitable for certain candidates. |
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Scientists have developed virus-powered electrical chargers capable of harnessing energy from footsteps, a milestone in the continuing advancement of green mobile technology.
The stamp-sized generator, created in Berkeley Labs, relies on the piezoelectric M13 virus to produce electrical charge when pressed. Fitted to shoe soles, it may one day allow users to power mobile electronics as they walk. The key to improvements lies in modifying the harmless virus, whose rapid reproduction and natural orderliness make it ideal for bioengineering. But M13 is not alone in its power-producing capabilities, as researchers around the world are demonstrating in their rush to develop green mobile charging technology. Last week, 24-year-old Anthony Mutua of Kenya announced a shoe-powered cell phone charger that also generates electricity under pressure. Mutua's $46 device, slated for mass production, relies on a thin crystal chip to extract power from footfalls. InStep NanoPower, a company created by University of Wisconsin students Tom Krupenkin and Ashley Taylor, is also joining the race, seeking to market thermodynamically powered "in-shoe" technology by 2013. Besides using chip-fitted shoes to charge cell phones, scientists are developing clothing and exercise machines that can extract electricity from human movement. The U.S. military is working to develop movement-sensitive e-textile fabric for its soldiers that will allow them to charge mobile devices in the field without cumbersome cords and wires. Even concert-goers can benefit from such technology, using piezoelectric shirt pockets to harness vibrations from drums and guitars to charge cell phones. And German-made Silverback "Starke" bicycles, along with treadmills at England's Green Heart Gym, now use movement-generated energy to power portable batteries and LED lights. Developments like these herald a new era in mobile technology. Movement-powered cell phones will likely reduce the need for fossil fuel-based electricity, resulting in less environmental pollution as well as promoting human health with increased exercise. Furthermore, in today's gadget-centric world, green charging technology may enable users to stay even more digitally connected than they are now. This development would certainly benefit the entire mobile market, which may see higher profits as a result of their products' ability to organically keep a charge. Currently, the prototype virus-powered device produces one-fourth the voltage of a triple A battery, only enough to run a small LCD. As Berkeley scientist Seung-Wuk Lee joked, "Do not expect this virus-based device to run your water heating unit." But Lee, along with Byung Yang Lee and Ramamoorthy Ramesh, are still experimenting in hopes that the virus-coated generator will revolutionize the mobile industry. "Because the tools of biotechnology enable large-scale production of genetically modified viruses, piezoelectric materials based on viruses could offer a simple route to novel microelectronics in the future," Lee predicted. |
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