Healing with sound waves

Posted on January 25, 2016 by

The MIST therapy system is a low-frequency, noncontact ultrasound device. The generator converts voltage to high-frequency electrical energy. The electrical energy is transmitted to a piezoelectric transducer (lead zirconate titanate PZT), where it is changed to mechanical energy. The transducer operates at 40 KHz with a distal displacement of 60 to 70 microns. The mechanical energy is transferred to a transducer horn (titanium alloy) that vibrates longitudinally, creating an acoustic pressure o...

Innovative Package Design for Products

Posted on January 20, 2016 by

Innovative Package Design for Products Shirt packaging that can also be a hanger Apple Baguette The design process resulted in the 'baguette' package, developed for apples, but at a later stage also to be used for other fruits. The cardboard packaging offers more protection to the apple, as well as more communication space. "We had several ideas," says designer Aster Witteman, "but this particular design was chosen because of its natural look, the innovative design, the stacking a...

Oxygen green table as natural air purifier for your home

Posted on January 18, 2016 by

As natural air outside becomes more polluted, many are turning towards indoor air purifiers for clean oxygen. The Oxygen of Green concept is a coffee table that grows Air Plants (which do not need soil) and produces oxygen at night so you can wake up every morning to clean and fresh air. Designed by Devon Mingling Wang, the “Oxygen of Green” low table, essentially uses a soil-less plant called Tillandsias to purify air. The Tillandsias plant produces a decent amount of oxygen, particularly...

EyeRing is a wearable, intuitive interface that allows a person to point at an object to see or hear more information about it

Posted on January 14, 2016 by

EyeRing is a wearable, intuitive interface that allows a person to point at an object to see or hear more information about it. We came up with the idea of a micro-camera worn as a ring on the index finger with a button on the side, which can be pushed with the thumb to take a picture or a video that is then sent wirelessly to a mobile phone to be analyzed. The user tells the system what information they are interested in and receives the answer in either auditory or visual form. The device also...

Hadeel Ayoub’s Smart Glove

Posted on January 13, 2016 by 41629066

Hadeel Ayoub student at Goldsmiths University of London in England has been working to build smart glove which can take the sign language and convert it to common language. Hadeel Ayoub has created a series of smart glove prototypes that can detect sign language gestures, and use digital processing to translate them so that the wearer can be understood by someone who does not know sign language. Ayoub created three different prototypes. The first one outputs a single letter to a display an...

Mobile Lorm Glove – A communication device for visually challenged and hearing impaired

Posted on January 13, 2016 by 41629066

The Mobile Lorm Glove is a communication and translation device for the visually challenged and hearing impaired. It translates the hand-touch alphabet Lorm, a common form of communication used by people with both hearing and vision impairment, into digital text and vice-versa. The prototype translates “Lorm” into digital text and vice versa. Lorm is a series of hand-tracing gestures that map to characters of the alphabet, used as a common form of communication by people with both hearing and...

Eatware: Tableware Designed for Alzheimer’s Patients

Posted on January 7, 2016January 7, 2016 by 41629066

Inspired by her late grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease, Sha Yao, an industrial designer, developed Eatwell: a user-centered tableware set designed to help increase food intake and maintain dignity for those with Alzheimer’s. Her product won first place at 2014 Stanford Design Challenge out of 52 teams from 15 countries. Firm in her commitment to improve the quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s, Yao set out to understand more about their lives. Through volunteering, she discovered ...

HIPPO ROLLER -simple way to bring large quantity of water home from river in rural villages

Posted on January 6, 2016January 6, 2016 by 41629066

Carrying water is a time-consuming and tiring chore for millions of women and children in rural Africa. Typically, a woman can manage no more than a 20-litre bucket carried on her head, often walking long distance to bring it home. The Hippo water roller allows up to 90 litres of water to be carried in a single trip, and with much less effort. Hippo Water Roller was created in 1991 by two South Africans, Mr. Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker. They both grew up on farms and had seen the eff...

Smart devices for visually impaired

Posted on January 3, 2016January 3, 2016 by 41629066

There is a lot of work and research being done to find ways to improve life for partially-sighted and blind people. Reading and recognition devices could make smartphones, tablets, and smart glasses into indispensable aids for the visually impaired. CINVESTAV (Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute) in Mexico, there is another smart glasses project in progress. It combines computational geometry, artificial intelligence, and ultrasound techniques, among...

Smart Clothes that can monitor your heartbeat, Activity intensity, peak acceleration, steps, cadence and sleep positions…

Posted on January 3, 2016 by 41629066

Smart clothes are the next step beyond wearables. Despite smart watches and activity trackers just beginning to become popular, smart clothing is already starting to appear. So far there are already items of smart clothing available including t-shirts that measure biometrics and bras that adapt to support in certain situations. Few innovative products: Victoria's Secret, the women's lingerie specialist, has released a sports bra that is capable of measuring the wearer's heart rate. The...

Biomechatronics – Enhancing human physical capability.

Posted on January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 by 41629066

Biomechatronics is an applied interdisciplinary science that aims to integrate mechanical elements, electronics and parts of biological organisms. Biomechatronics includes the aspects of biology, mechanics, and electronics. It also encompasses the fields of robotics and neuroscience. MiT's research in Enhancing human physical capability: We know from early Roman mosaics that physical rehabilitation and amplification technologies have been used during much of recorded history. Although the ...

Illness & Climate Change

Posted on December 25, 2015 by

A new NOAA study, published in the journal Ecological Modeling, forecasts an increase in ciguatera fish poisoning in the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. Southeast Atlantic coast with predicted rising global ocean temperatures due to climate change. People can be affected by ciguatera, the most common form of algal-induced seafood poisoning, by eating contaminated tropical marine reef fish such as grouper, snapper and barracuda. Scientists are now predicting that global climate change will ciguatera,...

Flosstime – World’s First Smart Floss Dispenser

Posted on December 24, 2015 by 41629066

Flosstime is the world's first smart floss dispenser that will help you build daily flossing habits and helps you to remember to floss. Flosstime, launched on Kickstarater is a smart floss dispenser that is mounted on the mirror to help build daily flossing habits. It sits on the mirror of the bathroom and dispenses the right amount of floss when you press a button, lighting up to show a blue smile. When you don’t press the button, and thus don’t floss, for a few days, the Flosstime lights tu...

NASA Scientist Kickstarts Cold Shoulder Weight-Loss Vest.

Posted on December 22, 2015 by

Invented by Dr. Wayne B. Hayes, a professor at the University of California and a visiting scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the "Cold Shoulder" calorie-burning vest apparently is based on hard science, rather than science fiction. According to info on Kickstarter, scientists have spent decades studying how mild cold exposure can enhance calorie burn, and the results seem to show that it works. Hayes works with NASA scientists who purportedly study ice, so he ...

EyeGuide Focus Detects Concussions in 10 Seconds

Posted on December 21, 2015 by

EyeGuide Focus, a 10-second concussion detection tool, measures neurocognitive impairment quickly and reliably, following established research protocols to return quantifiable results, aiding athletic trainers and other healthcare providers in making informed decisions on concussions. It detects concussions in 10 seconds by recording and interpreting athletes' eye movements. Focus can be administered immediately after a possible concussion. Just as important, it can be used to monitor recovery, ...

Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes can no longer spread Malaria

Posted on December 14, 2015December 15, 2015 by

US scientists have bred a genetically modified mosquito that is incapable of spreading malaria to humans, according to reports. A gene editing technique called Crispr was used to alter the genetic makeup of the insect, making it resistant to Plasmodium falciparum, one of the parasites that causes malaria in humans. Crucially, the GM mosquitoes passed on their anti-malarial DNA strain to 99.5% of their offspring, raising the prospect of the altered species being released in the wild one day to co...

New Colonoscopy Study

Posted on December 13, 2015December 14, 2015 by

According to a study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, a team of researchers led by Bas Oldenburg, MD, PhD, University Medical Center Utrecht, analyzed data on 1,273 IBD patients (34% Crohn’s disease, 63% ulcerative colitis, and 3% unclassified) who had experienced a total of 4,327 surveillance colonoscopies between January 1, 2000 and January 1, 2014. Surveillance is recommended for patients with long-term inflammatory bowel disease because they have an incre...

The ‘Miracle’ Berry that could replace sugar

Posted on December 12, 2015 by

This miracle berry that grows in West Africa contains Miraculin, a glycoprotein which was first extracted back in 1968. The local population knew the effects for much longer and chewed the fruit pulp to make sour maize bread tastier. The surface of our tongue is covered by a multitude of different receptors to detect tastes from sweet to umami. Just like sugar and artificial sweeteners like aspartame, the miraculin in the berry binds to your sweet taste receptors, but far more strongly. The acid...

Stress is a trigger to many health conditions

Posted on December 10, 2015 by 41629066

Stress is a common trigger for many health condition. Stress and anxiety sometimes make you feel short of breath and may cause your asthma symptoms to become worse. You cannot avoid stress; it is part of daily life. However, developing effective ways to manage stress and learning to relax can help you prevent shortness of breath and avoid panic. The physical effects of stress and a gush of emotions can act as asthma triggers. When people cry or get anxious and upset, breathing becomes hard...

New clues to easing side effects from Parkinson’s Drug.

Posted on December 8, 2015 by

In an international study, Northwestern Medicine scientists and colleagues have identified a novel strategy for reducing the side effects of uncontrolled movement caused by the drug levodopa, commonly used to treat the stiffness, tremors and poor muscle control of Parkinson’s disease. These unwanted movements caused by levodopa significantly diminish the quality of life for Parkinson’s disease patients. A team lead by D. James Surmeier, PhD, chair and Nathan Smith Davis Professor of Physiology f...

Simple test identifies lung cancer patients with best chemotherapy response.

Posted on December 7, 2015 by

A new study shows that a certain type of protein can be used to determine if a lung cancer patient will respond positively to chemotherapy. While prognosis for the most common form, adenocarcinoma, has remained poor, new research has shown a link between the absence of a specific protein and improved patient outcomes. Scientists at Lawson Health Research Institute have found that patients who undergo chemotherapy and surgery experience significantly improved survival rates when their tumor is la...

Block the bad sounds and harness the good with Hush earplugs

Posted on November 25, 2015 by

A new pair of “smart earplugs” called Hush, combine sound-eliminating foam and noise-masking technology. Many wearables monitor your sleep, but they don’t provide solutions to allow for better sleep. The Hush device fits comfortably in a user’s ear, and it is surrounded in a soft silicon surface. The product helps users sleep through snoring, loud neighbors, and other noises but it doesn’t block the noises that are necessary, like alarm clocks or emergency phone calls. “Hush’s ultimate goal i...

Robo-Kitttens to combat loneliness felt by the elderly.

Posted on November 24, 2015 by

The Joy For All cats are sold under the slogan, ‘Why should kids have all the fun?’, and are marketed as a relaxation device, designed to make users feel happier and less alone upon hearing the mewing of the cat’s response to their touch. Created by the producers of My Little Pony and Transformers, the cat toys do not requiring feeding or bathroom breaks, and react to affection. “Joy for All” pets are robotic cats that “look, feel, and sound like real cats,” Hasbro claims on its website, whic...

Vessel – This cup tells you what it’s holding.

Posted on November 23, 2015 by

Vessel can identify the drink that is in it, along with the dietary content sugar, calories, protein, fat, caffeine and takes all the data and synchronizes it in your smartphone. The Vessyl mug created by Justin Lee has been designed to serve as a chic lifestyle product that is fashionable as well as functional, and it has a spill–proof lid, a non-stick interior, and comes with a charging coaster that provides enough power for the cup to work for a week with just one hour of charge time. It come...

Lully helps prevent a child’s night terrors.

Posted on November 21, 2015 by

The Lully Sleep Guardian is a Bluetooth-enabled pod that pairs with an iPhone app, to prevent a child from entering an "unhealthy state of sleep," when night terrors typically occur. The pod uses gentle, timed vibrations. A good night's sleep for a child typically means the same for a parent. But night terrors can make middle-of-the-night wakings more frequent and can leave parents feeling helpless. This new device wants to fend off night terrors by rousing a child into a lighter sleep stage. ...

Artificial Ebola virus slowed by large fullerene system.

Posted on November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 by

A recent study shows that a large fullerene system can interrupt the infection of an artificial Ebola virus. An infection with Ebola starts when the virus gains access to the cellular DC-SIGN receptor and begins to infect the immune system’s dendritic cells. Thanks to the new, larger molecule comprised of fullerenes that are coated with carbohydrates, scientists can block the receptor and interrupt the infection. This has been tested on an artificial virus model. Researchers attained a remark...

SlingShot: Quest to solve the world’s safe water crisis.

Posted on November 20, 2015 by

Kamen's SlingShot (so-named after the Biblical David & Goliath story) device is an energy-efficient "vapor compression distiller," and one possible answer to the safe water crisis. The SlingShot is designed to take virtually any unfit source of water, such as contaminated well water or seawater, and turn it into clean water, without requiring a filter (which regularly need to be replaced) or using any chemical additives (which have to be purchased). The device does use combustible fuel to po...

MRI Scan and Stroke Risk

Posted on November 20, 2015 by

Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of people. It can make you feel lousy. Even worse, it can cause potentially disabling or deadly strokes. A special MRI scan may help identify people with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of having a stroke. This could help many people with this condition to avoid taking warfarin or other clot-preventing medications for life. A normal heartbeat starts in a cluster of cells called the pacemaker. It sits in the heart’s ...

Smart Bed for kids with a “monster detector.”

Posted on November 20, 2015 by

Smart bed for kids monitors their snoozing cycles and determines if diet, stress and other daily activities are impacting the quality of their sleep. The bed, which is equipped with tiny hidden sensors, uses digital-signal capture within the mattress and processing techniques to pick up on motion and pressure. It tracks a child's breathing and heart-rate throughout the night too, and blends that data with other factors to determine a SleepIQ score in the morning. The higher the number (based fro...

Microbiomes could hold keys to improving life.

Posted on November 19, 2015 by

Microbial life forms including viruses, bacteria, and fungi are the most diverse and abundant organisms on earth. They have shaped our evolutionary origins for billions of years and continue to have widespread impact. The UMIC foresees the microbiomes being leveraged through genetic engineering for applications within 10 years. “Microbes are everywhere. Therefore understanding microbiomes, whether they be the ones that live in and on our bodies or the ones in the environment, is essential to ...