Tag: Medical

Sweating can help power smartwatches. Sweat itself contains proteins, which provide information about our general health. Enter a Californian research team, which has developed a wearable sensor aimed at detecting inflammation. Inside the device, a graphene layer and gold nanoparticles are embedded with antibodies which react to the protein CRP, a biochemical marker secreted by the liver. Additional molecules...

Mobile and solar-powered beds can provide speedy relief to babies with jaundice. During outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola or Polio, however, many doses of vaccines are required locally. To help with logistics and storage, a research team from MIT has developed a mobile printer to produce vaccination patches. They can be stored at room temperature for months....

Coral landscapes can be re-generated with the help of probiotics. Using the body’s stem cells for bone grafts sometimes leads to complications or disease transmission. But the alternative - so-called xenograft materials from mammalian tissue - is both ethically and environmentally problematic. Which explains why a research team from Oslo has developed a sustainable solution, using eggshells. As well as calcium and...

Our bodies are unique. Good that 3D X-ray images are helping diagnoses become even more precise. People from underrepresented groups have special needs when it comes to medical treatment, and don’t always receive the care and attention they deserve. Cue a non-profit organisation from Cologne which helps them find the right treatment. Their platform contains an index of medical...

Volunteer test subjects for mosquito repellents can breathe easy. And testing new medication on animals could also be old news thanks to an important development made by an Australian-led research team. Instead of cultivating human cell samples in a Petri dish statically, the team has successfully replicated conditions like air and blood flow in the human lung, creating advanced...

Brain tumours may be detected thanks to a urine test. Meanwhile, an American research team is turning its attentions to Parkinson’s, having discovered a biomarker that could help accelerate pre-symptom diagnosis. Parkinson’s is caused when the body produces low levels of dopamine, and high levels of abnormal proteins. The latter, known as alpha-synuclein, are notoriously difficult to detect, even...

A headband can monitor hallucinations, while skin cancer can be detected by cell phone. What about the most common cause of heart disease and coronary artery aneurysms in 1-5 year-olds? Cue a 17-year-old female student from San Diego who has developed a new method for identifying Kawasaki Disease. Since the five symptoms - high fever, red tongue, body rash and...

A spray could provide Parkinson’s patients with faster, more targeted help. Treating internal wounds is often expensive, however, as biological material must be implanted as part of the recovery process. Which is why a research team in Sydney has developed a thin robotic arm with an integrated 3D printer. Due to flexible hydraulics, the arm can be operated like...