AR and VR are gearing up for a giant leap forward thanks to advancements in eye-tracking technology. The industry has been experiencing a boom in recent years with hundreds of startups and heavy investment from tech giants including Google, Apple, Samsung, and Facebook. Despite all the activity, AR/VR hardware remains relatively crude. Most interfaces take...
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Fitbit’s Ionic to offer glucose monitoring for diabetics
The Fitbit Ionic starts shipping in October Launched late last month, Fitbit’s Ionic is the company’s attempt at claiming some territory from smartwatch heavyweights like Apple and Garmin. Now the feature-packed wearable is set to gain a handy new piece of functionality, with the ability to display glucose levels on the user’s wrist. Glucose monitoring has long shaped as a...
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A tiny device offers insights to how cancer spreads
Researchers develop a fluidic device to track over time which cancer cells lead the invasive march Cancer cells move through a microfluidic chamber. As cancer grows, it evolves. Individual cells become more aggressive and break away to flow through the body and spread to distant areas. What if there were a way to find those...
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Smartphone app scans pupils to detect concussions
The PupilScreen app uses the phone’s flash to stimulate the eye and the camera than captures a three-second video, looking for signs of concussion Severe concussions where a person is visibly shaken or knocked unconscious are obviously cause for concern, but milder ones that go undetected can also lead to dangerous health impacts down the track....
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Researchers develop 3-D-printed biomaterials that degrade on demand
The temporary structures, which can be degraded away with a biocompatible chemical trigger, could be useful in fabricating microfluidic devices, creating biomaterials that respond dynamically to stimuli and in patterning artificial tissue. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University engineers have demonstrated a technique for making 3-D-printed biomaterials that can degrade on demand, which can be...
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How heating one ear to 42C while cooling the other to 17C could help to prevent migraines
Retro-style headphones that heat one ear while cooling the other could help to prevent migraines. Patients who wore them for just 30 minutes a day over a three-month period suffered half their usual number of attacks, and were also able to cut down their use of preventive drugs, according to a new study. Researchers believe...
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New app replaces ultrasound with smartphone camera to measure heart health
Human heart. Want to know how healthy your heart is? Now there’s an app for that. In a proof-of-concept clinical trial, engineers at Caltech, Huntington Medical Research Institute, and USC have demonstrated that the camera on your smartphone can noninvasively provide detailed information about your heart’s health. What used to require a 45-minute scan...
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Research discovers potential new Rx target for colon cancer
Genetic research conducted at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine and Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center demonstrated for the first time that a novel protein can cause normal cells in the lining of the colon to become malignant, grow and spread, as well as take on the characteristics of stem cells. The work, which...
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Cancer survivors who quit smoking sooner can live longer
Lung cancer survivors who quit smoking within a year of diagnosis will live for longer than those who continue to smoke, according to new research led by the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford. The findings also revealed that general practitioners are comparatively less likely to intervene and offer stop-smoking support to cancer patients, than they are to...
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Australian researchers say they can stop melanoma spreading
Melanoma in skin biopsy with H&E stain — this case may represent superficial spreading melanoma. Researchers say a combination of new treatments can stop the world’s deadliest form of skin cancer—melanoma—in its tracks and halt its spread to other organs. Results from two international drug trials conducted by the Sydney-based Melanoma Institute Australia have proved successful...