Hangout with Kit Parker: Engineering the Body
When I told Kit Parker of Harvard University to think about explaining what he does to teenagers who would be watching our Google Science Fair Hangout On Air earlier today, he had a great answer for me: “My job is to work on cool.” Among Parker’s many “cool” research passions are understanding cardiac cell biology [...]
West Africa Unprepared for Future Health Crises Despite Ebola Aid
Health care is decimated, leaving the region more vulnerable than ever to infectious diseases
Crowd-Sourced Medical Research Gets Apple Assist
What’s called ResearchKit enables scientists to more easily write mobile apps that take advantage of iPhone sensors to study asthma, Parkinson’s and other diseases. Larry Greenemeier reports
DNA Editing of Human Embryos Alarms Scientists
A call by scientists to halt precision gene editing of DNA in human embryos would allow time to work out safety and ethical issues
Requirements Tightened on Reusable Medical Devices
The FDA announced strict new recommendations for preventing the transmission of antibiotic-resistant infections from reusable medical devices such as those that have spread recently at several hospitals
Cochlear Implants May Benefit Mind and Mood of Older People
Cognition, social interactions and quality of life may improve for older people with hearing loss when hearing is restored with a cochlear implant, according to a new study
Ebola Crisis Could Fuel Measles Outbreak in West Africa
Gaps in immunization could cause as many deaths as the current epidemic itself
Exotic Micropumps and Gels Offer Hope for Hearing Disorders
New inner-ear drug delivery systems could stop relentless ringing or restore lost sound sensitivity
Under What Circumstances Do We Find Robots Trustworthy?
Each year it seems a little less like science fiction to ask your phone for advice about local chinese food or trust your car to get you to a new location.
Dog of the Dead: The Science of Canine Cadaver Detection
There are many reasons to seek help from a dog trainer, and Cat Warren confronted almost all of them when a new puppy came barreling into her life.
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2015
What innovations are leaping out of the labs to shape the world in powerful ways? Identifying those compelling innovations is the charge of the Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies, one of the World Economic Forum’s network of expert communities that form the Global Agenda Councils, which today released its Top 10 List of Emerging Technologies for [...]
How Designers Can Improve Health Care For Everyone
The last place anyone expects to find a designer is in a hospital, clinic or operating room, but those are exactly the spaces where I embed myself.