Scanadu's Medical Tricorder works with your smartphone to takes vitals and diagnose disease non-invasively and at home.

Star Trek fans rejoice, the Tricorder is here.

Medical tech startup Scanadu has created a scanner that appears to have been inspired by those of Drs. McCoy and Crusher. The ‘Medical Tricorder’ scanner can take vitals such as blood pressure, pulmonary function, and temperature, and sends them to your smartphone. The device can make the difference between a needed trip to the emergency room or a waste of time and money for conditions that don’t need treatment.

The company just raised $2 million in funding from a group of investors that includes Sebastien De Halleux, co-founder of social network game maker Playfish. The money’s an impressive accomplishment considering Scanadu isn’t even a year old. Founded in January 2011, the company is staffed with a team of visionaries like Walter De Brouwer. The Belgian futurist co-founded Starlab in 1996 with MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte. He first got the idea for the Tricorder while at Starlab but the technology wasn’t mature enough at the time. In 2006 his son was in a serious accident and hospitalized for three months. De Brouwer again got to thinking about leveraging technology to empower people by allowing them to auto-diagnose and make informed decisions concerning health.

De Brouwer is joined by fellow futurist Daniel Kraft, a physician-scientist who chairs the FutureMed program at Singularity University. Kraft gave a TED talk this past June entitled “Medicine’s future? There’s an app for that.” He drives the main point behind Scanadu’s philosophy that today’s health care needs to catch up to the tools it’s surrounded by. As co-founder and COO Misha Chellam said in a press release, we can do a lot better than the thermometer and band-aids in our medicine cabinets.

In its early days, Scanadu is targeting the Tricorder to parents who want to monitor their children’s health better. Watch the company’s trailer to get an idea how it might work.

Scanadu’s diagnostic scanner is being entered into the Tricorder X PRIZE, a $10 million competition launched this past May to develop mobile diagnostic technologies. Their goal is to put health information directly in the hands of “health consumers.” The competing Tricorders will be up against a panel of doctors to see if they can match the doctors in diagnosing an array of diseases.

Wireless technologies are revolutionizing medicine. Wearable scanners that give patients and doctors health information is expected to reach 80 million by 2016, according to ABI Research. The smartphone is already being used to read our glucose levels, check for sexually transmitted diseases, read a digital stethoscope, and give a doctor access to patient medical records. Earlier this year the FDA approved an app that allows doctors to view images from MRI, CT and PET scans on their iPad or iPhone. One company is working on a pacemaker smaller than a penny that will communicate wirelessly to a smartphone. There are even virtual clinics appearing in your corner drug store where you can dial up a doc if you have questions about a medication or condition.

The ‘Tricorder’ that wins the X PRIZE will add yet another tool to our augmented medical reality. Of course, these tools are not meant to replace doctors but to improve how both doctors and patients manage health. It’ll probably take a while for people to learn to trust the Tricorders, as it should. I can totally see parents ignoring “Get rest” and taking a trip in to see the doctor anyway. Until the Tricorders have a proven track record, people will probably head over to sick bay just in case.

[image credit: Scanadu]
[video credit: IvoClarysse via YouTube]
images: Scanadu
video: Scanadu

Patients can control a computer with their thoughts using ECoG electrodes placed directly on the brain.

A temporary surgical implant enabled patients to “talk” to a computer. Just by thinking the words aloud in their head they were able to control a cursor on a computer screen. The brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could one day be used to help people who are unable to talk or have other physical disabilities due to brain injury. The technology could one day be used to read a person’s mind.

Published April 7 in the Journal of Neuroengineering, the study was carried out by scientists at the Center for Innovation in Neurosciences and Technology at Washington University in St. Louis. The team was led by Dr. Eric Leuthardt, a pioneer in the field who previously developed a BCI that enabled people to play video games with their thoughts. In the current study a net of ECoG (electrocorticographic) electrodes was temporarily placed beneath the dura, a layer of connective tissue surrounding the brain. Rather than performing a craniotomy and placing electrodes on the brain for an experiment–might be hard to get approval for that–the original purpose of the electrodes was to map activity in patients with intractable epilepsy so that those areas could be surgically removed. As human brain studies are often brought about, Dr. Leuthardt combined his clinical aims with experimental. The ECoG electrodes detect the activity of underlying neurons and transmit the signals to a computer that then uses the signals to perform a task. In the current study the patients’ brain activity was used to control a cursor on a computer screen. Remarkably, the patients were able to accurately control the cursor in as little as 4 minutes. The slowest of them took 15 minutes. The ease with which the patents were able to perform the task is an encouraging sign that the technology could be applied to prosthetics control.

Other researchers have successfully used a BCI to interact with a computer. What’s novel about Leuthardt’s study was the region of the brain they recorded from. Building off work in monkeys where a mathematical relationship was found between the activity of motor cortex neurons and movements produced, early work in neural interfaces for prosthetic control logically focused efforts of how to use the motor cortex as the brain activity source. Leuthardt’s group, however, took a different approach. They hypothesized that, instead of imagining an arm movement–from right to left, for example–the patient could control the cursor with sounds either spoken aloud or imagined.

Instead of recording from the motor cortex, the researchers needed to record from the speech centers of the brain: Wernicke’s area in the temporal lobe and Broca’s area in the frontal lobe. The patients were asked to say or think of four sounds: oo, ah, ee, and eh. The computer then associated the patterns of brain activity that represented each of the sounds and tied specific cursor movements to the sounds. When the patient said or thought “ah” for example, the cursor would move left.

Spoken or imaginary sounds generate brain waves which are recorded by ECoG electrodes and sent to a computer to control the movements of a cursor.

Using the brain’s speech centers instead of the motor area was a major achievement. Human speech has been studied extensively with brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Data from these experiments have revealed a great deal about how different parts of the speech network work together to produce and understand language. But prior to Leuthardt’s demonstration it was not known if speech network activity could be used in BCI control.

Will the computer understand us if we simply talk to it? This is important for neuroprosthetic devices of the future as it expands the repertoire of brain function that clinicians can potentially use to control a robotic limb.

Another way to phrase the above question: can the computer read our minds? Amazingly, the answer seems to be yes. But simple oos and ahs are one thing, articulated thoughts are quite another. When we talk–either to each other or internally to ourselves–our thoughts aren’t limited to the words we’re using. Our brain relates to the words in intuitive ways, as in all of the imagery and associations that pop up in our heads when we hear a simple word like “ninja.” BCIs are a long way off from extracting the tremendously more complex idea of ninja our brain conjures up, but understanding overt statements from the brain is a step in that direction. It’s fun to think that this technology might be used someday to record our thoughts in the same way tape recorders are used. Brain implants could enable us to “jot down” lecture notes in our thoughts and retrieve them from the computer later. You’ll definitely want to keep those notes heavily guarded, lest someone hacks in and realizes that your mind kept wandering to the cute girl in the row next to you.

The video below from Russia TV Today is a great summary of the state of BCI technology today. Instead of using surgically-implanted ECoG electrodes, the Russian scientists in the video use a much more user-friendly “shower cap” of EEG electrodes that can read brain waves from outside the head. The video nicely illustrates the technology, including the difficulties of calibrating BCIs. Check it out as users solve puzzles, drive a remote controlled car, and move a ball across the floor using only their thoughts.

Computers are already being used to read our minds–and companies are cashing in on the data. Neuromarketing is a field born when a neuroscientist performed the Pepsi Challenge while scanning people’s brain activity with fMRI. The study showed that a part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex lights up when people really like a product. As before, Pepsi beat Coke and when they drank Pepsi the MPC lit up. But then why, if more people prefer Pepsi, does Coke dominate the market? The answer came when researchers uncovered the labels. Now that the people knew what they were drinking, the MPC lit up with Coke, not Pepsi. The conclusion was that Coke’s advertising was much more effective than Pepsi’s: even though people preferred Pepsi, they thought they preferred Coke. Lighting up the MPC meant a refreshed and satisfied Coke drinker. Thus, a cottage industry was born. Companies began putting people in MRI machines and testing their slogans and ad campaigns, and watching to see if the MPC lit up. If it did, it meant the consumer was thinking, “I need that pair of shoes.”

The potential of combining mind and machine is limitless. The two are being brought ever closer as developments in BCI technology proceed in parallel with our increasing understanding of the how the brain works. The future of BCIs will take us in even more exciting and unpredictable directions. Whether it improves the lives of disabled people, enhances our use of information, makes video games more fun, or makes companies money only time will tell. Eventually, I have no doubt, it will be all of the above and more.

[image credits: Journal of Neuroengineering]
[video credit: moscowbci via youtube]

video: Russia TV Today

The way doctors do diagnosis could change soon. The programmable core of the Bio-Nano-Chip.

We often find out too late what’s happening inside our bodies when it’s stricken by disease or cancer, but those days could be coming to an end. The McDevitt Lab of Rice University has developed a Programmable Bio-Nano-Chip (PBNC), an alternative to the costly, time-consuming, and sometimes painful procedures for diagnosis. By using nanoscale fluorescent labeling to look for biomarkers linked to disease, these credit-card size chips could enable physicians to recognize heart disease or cancer with just a small saliva sample, no catheterizations or biopsy required. PBNCs also represent an exciting milestone for the “lab-on-a-chip.” In the past, this technology could analyze very small samples, but it has been economically impractical and still required a full-scale laboratory. PBNCs don’t have these issues. Chips for various conditions are already in clinical trials, so the McDevitt team’s PBNC  is quickly forging a path to a facility near you. The arrival of this technology would enormously benefit the healthcare system by improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs. PBNCs also hint at other possibilities, like detecting the earliest signs of disease. If these devices ever become implants, then the Body 2.0 upgrade we’ve been waiting for could be within reach. Your body’s health, right down to its biochemistry, could be as easy to read as your wristwatch.

PBNCs fit the functionality of a diagnostic laboratory on a small silicon chip. Rice University developers applied fluorescent antibody labeling (FAL), a technique in which fluorophore-tagged antibodies attach to specific unbound or cell membrane proteins in order to determine concentration. The team miniaturized this method so that it could detect these protein biomarkers down to a few billionths of a gram. This allowed the device to discern when certain indicators of pathology (i.e. abnormal concentrations or uncontrolled cell proliferation) appear in the body, using only a saliva sample. When the McDevitt lab combined miniaturized detection with microfluidics, a stand-alone reader, and a reprogrammable sample processing core, the PBNC was born.

The video below highlights the functionality of the device as well as its potential fiscal benefits. At 1:26, Dr. McDevitt describes the grim situation of conventional heart disease diagnosis, pointing out that too often “the first symptom they get is they die.”  Then, a lab member divulges the technical details of the PBNC-based diagnostics (1:55). He shows a case of a test performed on a man who was complaining of chest pains, with the nine central beads emitting more fluorescence compared to a non-heart attack patient. This indicated an elevated concentration of cardiac troponin I, a revealing biomarker for cardiovascular damage. The video wraps up with Dr. Vivian Ho (4:32) describing how PBNCs conflict with the dogma of healthcare economics: better technology inevitably leads to rising costs. However, according to Dr. McDevitt, mass chip production could drive the cost of PBNCs down to a few dollars per test. Compare that to other diagnostics in the table below the video. If PBNCs lead to both better health and less financial strain, we could have our cake and eat it too.

The monetary and temporal costs of lab tests. PBNCs for heart damage, prostate cancer, HIV, and ovarian cancer are currently in clinical trials.

So when will these tests reach hospitals and clinics? According to Dr. McDevitt:

More than 20,000 scientific-discovery papers for cancer and 6,000 for cardiac disease have been published, yet only about one biomarker per year for all diagnostics areas received FDA approval from 1995 to 2005.

While regulatory protocol has impeded biomarker-based testing in the past, Dr. McDevitt’s promising technology has prompted the FDA to set PBNCs on the fast-track for approval. Chips for heart disease and three different kinds of cancer are already in Phase III clinical trials. For those unfamiliar with the FDA approval process, Phase III is one of the last steps before drugs or medical devices are allowed to be marketed. Barring any significant issues during the multi-site trials, it appears PBNCs could be just around the corner.

If these devices ever become widespread, I wonder what other disorders these chips will be able to detect in the future. The biomarker signatures for many diseases are still being worked out, but once they are found, it’s not unreasonable to assume that PBNCs could be reprogrammed for them as well. For example, there has been headway using biomarkers to detect neuropsychiatric dysfunction. Currently, the blood test for schizophrenia costs around $2500, so a PBNC version of this test could make it much more accessible. One issue to consider is that a PBNC for schizophrenia would need to assess 51 biomarkers, and the PBNCs in clinical trials right now only quantify three or four. While there will be logistical concerns if these chips expand to testing other diseases, I’m confident that these challenges will be surmountable.

Looking even further ahead, could PBNCs ever be integrated with our biology? We’ve seen cyborg retinas, a silicon pancreas, and a vitals clip-on, but what can PBNCs offer to Body 2.0? Not much . . . for now. The chips are exclusively body-external for both sample collection and analysis. However, reflecting the general trend in microelectronics, I would expect that PBNCs will continue to miniaturize. After confronting issues with biocompatibility to ensure the body does not reject the device, then PBNCs could be surgically implanted. The chips would constantly monitor the levels of biomarkers for any disease imaginable. It could also be combined with a peripheral transmitter that relays biometric data to a receiver outside the body for analysis. Such an apparatus would enable us to detect disorders as they emerge in real-time, the pinnacle of preventative medicine. While this might sound like a medical pipe dream, there is considerable interest in implantable biochips. In fact, this technology has received big-time government funding in the past.

I am very excited about this technology and hope the FDA places similar tests on the fast-track of approval. Like countless others out there, cancer has been a scourge of my family. Getting a biopsy, waiting for the results, and paying for the costly lab tests can take a toll. While waiting for any life-determining test result isn’t easy, I would much prefer a 20 minute delay and avoid a painful biopsy. As PBNCs make their way through clinical trials, I will be watching the headlines, patiently waiting for the day that the grueling diagnosis process gets a little bit easier.

To learn more about PBNCs and how it could impact global health, watch this in-depth presentation by Dr. McDevitt given at Berkeley.

<Image Credits: Screenshot of Rice University News and Media Relations PBNC Video>

<Video Credit: Rice University News and Media Relations>

<Sources: Rice University News and Media Relations>

The Proteus chip transmits data from your stomach.

Open wide! Earlier this month, Swiss pharma giant Novartis announced it will be seeking regulatory approval of “smart pills” embedded with microchips within the next 18 months. The chip-on-a-pill, developed by Proteus Biomedical (and snatched up by Novartis for $24 million), will transmit data from the body to doctors, helping them to track med intake and tweak dosage. We previously covered the Proteus system’s clinical trials; now it looks like it will see European regulators by 2012.

So how does it work? The microchip is embedded in a normal pill – Novartis is starting with meds for organ transplantation, but the chip could be attached to any existing medication. As stomach acid breaks down the pill, it activates the microchip, which transmits time-stamped data to a patch worn on the patient’s skin. The patch then relays the data to your local wireless signal or smartphone, where it’s sent to your doctor (via a series of tubes). This lets your doctor ensure you’re taking the proper dosage at the proper time – or that you’ve taken your meds at all.

The system could also pass along important biometrics, like temperature and heart rate. Novartis has exclusive rights to the technology, which it plans to package first with existing medication that mitigates dangers of organ transplant. Following a transplant, patients require immunosuppressive drugs to reduce the risk of organ rejection; but this kind of therapy can increase the chances of infection. These dual dangers make dosage an important metric for doctors to monitor, and a good application of the microchip technology.

Novartis hopes to side-step a lengthy full regulatory review because its chip is attached to medications that are already on the market. If the chip is safe and doesn’t affect the normal drug action, it would be considered bioequivalent and skip some red tape. But regulators will be interested in more than bio-safety; the wireless transmission of information brings up questions of data security. Can a 3rd party intercept the signal? Figure out who takes what drugs, when, and in what doses? Regulators will be looking to ensure that individual data is transmitted securely, and for good reasons.

Data security aside, the idea of microchipped meds seems like uncharted ethical waters. I haven’t seen much discussion of the first application that jumped to mind: psychiatric medication. There are a wide range of reasons why people skip doses – forgetfulness, unwanted side effects, or plain old rejection of doctor’s orders. The context is also crucial here: are we talking about skipping a dose of Prozac at home? Or palming Clozaril at the hospital? Refused or skipped meds are notorious problems within the psychiatric community, and chipped drugs would add a new level of control over patients’ lives. Foucault would have a field day.

Skipped meds aren’t the only issue. What would be the consequences for drug abuse? It doesn’t seem too far-fetched for chips to be able to report who took which drugs, and where. This would have some major consequences for the rampant black market for painkillers in the US; could law inforcement get their hands on drug use data? Opiates wouldn’t be the only issue; imagine doctors (or police) tracking the actual use of Adderall across a modern university campus. During finals week.

Set aside the paranoia, and the potentials for personalized medicine are tremendous. We’ve talked about the promises of body 2.0 previously. As the chip technology is improved, it could be used to watch individual drug uptake and action; treatments could be fully customizable in real-time. That could mean patients wouldn’t need to wait weeks to determine if a drug was compatible, or have to switch medication several times. If you were in the 2% who will experience a particular side effect, your doctor could know before it kicked in. The promise for customizable treatments is a powerful one, and it’s already a driving force in biotech.

In my mind, this technology straddles the line between body 2.0 exciting and dystopia/panopticon creepy. I like lying to my dentist about how much I floss. Of course there are far less benign examples, but the question of privacy is tightly wrapped up in this kind of biotech. As per the cliché, new advents in technology make new things possible – some we want, and some we don’t. Microchipped medication will be here soon. We should start discussing what to do once it arrives.

[images courtesy of Proteus Biomedical, Stumptuous.com]

[source: Reuters]

These little sensors know when they've been swallowed.

Not everyone likes taking their medicine. Between just plain forgetfulness and a dislike for taste or side effects, many long term prescription users routinely miss taking their meds. That avoidance leads to $290 billion in medical costs in the US alone according to the New England Healthcare Institute. Between one third and one half of all Americans have missed taking their pills, but that could all change with Proteus Biomedical. As we described last year, and again recently, Proteus attaches an ingestible computer chip on pills so that an implanted or mobile device can track to see if you are actually swallowing them. Part of the Raisin™ system which is currently in clinical trials, tattle-tale pills may be a great way to keep you medicated.

Proteus’ system seems like such a revolutionary and worthwhile idea that Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NYSE: NVS) has partnered with Proteus for the clinical trials and beyond. According to the Financial Times, 20 patients have been studied as they use Novartis’ blood pressure medication Diovan with the Raisin system. Compliance has been boosted from 30% to 80% after six months. This high tech solution to combat pill avoidance is light years ahead of Pfizer’s solution: calling patients to remind them.

As part of the Raisin system, Proteus developed Chip Skin which protects implants in the body.

Just as the Internet is evolving into Web 2.0, so too are your body and healthcare. Body 2.0 will see a nearly continuous monitoring of your health through systems like Raisin, or Toumaz’s Sensium. While there are still magnificent leaps and bounds to be accomplished by finding new medications and techniques, the boon of Body 2.0 technologies is efficiency. By continually studying and adjusting your body, the effectiveness of current treatments is amplified. We can do more with the medicines we already have on hand. Not just $290 billion dollars saved, but millions of lives as well.

As always, the shift in efficiency leads the focus away from treating illnesses to living healthier. Most long term prescriptions have remarkably high success rates when taken regularly. The vast majority of us can live healthy lives if we just take care of daily maintenance for our bodies such as stress reduction, healthy eating, and exercise. Raisin, or any system that helps us discipline our health habits is bound to help us live longer and happier. That’s the promise of Body 2.0 and I hope that the partnership between Proteus and Novartis means that promise is gaining ground in the global marketplace.

What will it be, Neo? The red pill or the blue pill?

Now, thorough isn’t an adjective used when describing many things made or designed in this great country.  Our cars have worse build quality than the Italians (and when have you seen a Lamborghini that is not on fire?), we don’t read our laws before we pass them, and we were just so certain that there were WMDs in Iraq.  But MEDSignals: boy are they thorough.  There is an LED next to each of the four pill bins that can hold up to a month’s supply of pills.   The bins are numbered, color-coded and have Braille identifiers just to cover all the bases.  When it is time to take a pill, a pre-recorded voice tells the user that it is time, specifies the bin as well as the number of pills to take and also says any other instructions that have been programmed into the system.

If that isn’t enough, then worry not: the pill taking process is far from completed.  Coinciding with the voice, the LED beside the pill compartment flashes according to the number of pills to take while the same information is displayed on the screen.  But what if it’s a late dinner and the pills need to be washed down with some food?   Well, there is a snooze button that allows the alarm to be pushed back by convenient 30-minute intervals.  And at a cost of nearly $400 with additional monthly fees for data upload access, this thing better be thorough!

Once the MEDSignals system is put back into its charging station, it automatically detects the phone line and dials into an 800 number to report that the pill has been taken.  There is no need for internet connectivity (and it can’t even connect to the net anyhow).  How ingenious is that?   The folks at MEDSignals are banking on the fact that Grandma doesn’t have an internet connection and still clings to the technology of a golden era past: the landline.  Talk about knowing your customer, they hit it dead on!

There is still  that bit of technological charm available to those who want it, though, as the data can be viewed on the Internet by patients or doctors.  The pillbox can also be programmed on that same website.  This web interface pushes the MEDSignals system from handy gadget into the realm of Body 2.0.  Here at the Hub, we have been waxing relentlessly about this new revolution, and MEDSignals is the next stepping stone to getting there.  Here is a system that allows doctors, patients or family members to know instantly if something is amiss.  It is essentially an alarm that lets others know that something is going wrong.  This gaurdian pillbox will let doctors know that certain illnesses or maladies will be coming back even before they do.

After all, how much time and money is wasted in the healthcare industry due to improper use of medication?  Now it seems like doctors will finally have a tell-tale way of matching up side effects (like depression, nausea, vomiting, dia… oh, go and watch a viagra commercial, they’re all listed there) with the different medications that patients are taking.  It might be a simple correlation for one med but, when a few medications start interacting with each other, it can get very hairy.

All in all, the MEDSignals pillbox is a great, hi-tech reinvention of an old standby in any experienced pill-taker’s arsenal.  Though it might be funnier to think of Grandpa trying to use this new-fangled device, it’s not just for the elderly.  It could be used by anybody who has trouble taking their medication regularly (though the lack of internet connectivity shows exactly who is the target audience of this product).  Regardless of who uses it, this next stepping stone into the future of Body 2.0 shows where modern medicine is going.  We have discussed the Proteus system that detects which pill has been taken when it is inside the body.  This solution is a bit simpler, trusting that the user will make the move from pillbox to small intestine every time.  Regardless of how it happens, the not-too-distant future holds medications that will be tracked to ensure that they are taken.

The bestselling author's next book will focus on superhuman workout regimens. (Photo from Tim Ferriss' Blog: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/)

I have no idea if Tim Ferriss is the real deal, but he’s certainly made himself into a big deal. His 2007 bestselling book, The 4 Hour Work Week, promised to show you how to exit the rat race, make tons of money, and pursue your life’s goals without working yourself to death. He appeared at MIT, Harvard, Princeton, the CIA, Google, Live with Regis and Kelly…the list really never ends. He’s been on a constant lecture circuit while still achieving some ridiculous titles. He holds a Guinness World Record for Tango spins, he’s a champion kickboxer in China, and even had a TV show: Trial by Fire on Discovery Channel. Check out the promo after the break.

So, with all the accomplishments, the accolades, and the action, I’m still left with some serious doubts about Tim Ferriss. The 4 Hour Work Week was a great motivational tool, giving detailed plans to refocus your life and live your goals rather than live waiting for them. It was carpe diem for the Internet-age. Likewise, I expect Ferriss’ new book to be well conceived, well researched, and enjoyable. I just don’t think such programs really have the ability to work for everyone.

We don’t have time to review The 4 Hour Work Week here, but sufficed to say that the strategies it lays out are not sustainable for society as a whole. It’s much more about working your way into the upper class and pursuing your interests than it is about increasing the productivity of the economy. It doesn’t take a long time to realize that we can’t all be rich. In fact, riches like Ferriss describes require a base of poorer people. He more or less admits that. In the same vein, I doubt that this next book will form a society-wide revolution in health care. It’s much more likely that it will allow a talented (or indomitable) few to achieve amazing results. That’s kind of already the situation, anyway.

What does excite me about the book, and why were including here at Singularity Hub, is that it will be based on years of personal fitness research. According to Tim, he’s been collecting data on his workouts since he was 15 using state of the art equipment and regular blood tests. There are an increasing number of products that will soon come to market that would allow you to do similar testing. Soon, we all could be writing our own books about getting fit. Like Ferriss’ book, these results would probably only be relevant to the author, but who knows, you might turn yourself into a life-guru. In the end, we’re all suckers for short cuts.

]]> http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/15/tim-ferriss-new-book-become-a-superhuman/feed/ 22 http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/13/sensor-sensibility-new-information-from-toumaz-ceo/ http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/13/sensor-sensibility-new-information-from-toumaz-ceo/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:51:32 +0000 Aaron Saenz http://singularityhub.com/?p=5073 It’s time to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. For anyone who has visited the hospital recently, medical sensors should be familiar to you. Little sticky pads for ECG and EEG, thermometers, biochemical monitors…there a thousand things doctors can stick on or in you. Up to now, the data from each sensor was collected separately, transmitted separately, and often analyzed separately. The correlation between activities in your heart, head, and hands was largely absent. Until now.

Toumaz's Sensium is a new way to collect, analyze, and transmit data from body sensors.

Britain’s Toumaz Technology has developed Sensium, a device that allows data collected from various sensors on your body to be collected, processed, and transmitted via wireless signals in a single network. They don’t make the sensors, but they allow you to synchronize the signal from each one. That’s a key ingredient in getting better care. It also has huge applications in sports and fitness. A small Belgian company working with an Italian football club (read here: soccer) has been using earlier generation bulky devices to record the timing of their players movement, stress levels, and other factors. With their own algorithms they are able to predict the mental state of their players. They are now looking to use Sensium to bring a non-intrusive, real-time element to this technique. Knowing the precise time and way to field players could be a winning edge.

Singularity Hub was impressed with Toumaz Technology before, so much so that we hunted down its CEO, Keith Errey, for an exclusive phone interview. From that conversation we were able to get some great insights into how the company will change the way that we monitor our health. Hear about the exciting new information after the break.

“There is a whole new set of things that are gonna be understood and [help us] learn about how we actually are and operate and respond as physical beings.” — Keith Errey June 30, 2009

I am stuck on Sensium because Sensium’s stuck on me

Toumaz Technology started off with a key concept: the signals from the body create a ‘human space’ and if you want to operate in the human space you have to be unobtrusive, robust, and continuous. Sensors are already being crammed all over your body, so the device that interacts with them needs to add as little to that problem as possible. That’s why Sensium is an ultra-low power device. Each chip works on one tenth to one twentieth the power of a standard Bluetooth headset. Yet, even at low powers the devices can send a stream of data at 50kbps. And that’s continuous, not burst, transmission, meaning that each sensor is correlated with others down to the millisecond level. This information is sent from the device to a base receiver. That receiver can then communicate with other stations to share data on a larger network (a hospital, for instance).

The Sensium body-area network

But wait, ultra-low power also means ultra-low mass, and a tiny device can do things others can’t. As part of its ongoing research and development, Toumaz is beginning testing of a ‘smart patch’ version. This patch would be a disposable band-aid style device that could be applied to a patient. For four or five days (the average hospital stay in the Western world and the lifespan of the Sensium chip battery) all sensor data could be collected and routed to doctors in real time. Imagine, having a doctor open her PDA and have access to each of her patients vital signs. Or, that same PDA could have a program that alerts her to changes in a condition. No more paging doctors when something goes wrong. The doctor could see when things were about to go wrong and get there before they do.

The band-aid version of Sensium isn’t some pie in the sky dream. It’s happening soon. The day before our interview with Keith Errey, the prototypes were off to the converters to begin a large production. In August, clinical trials will begin at hospitals associated with Imperial College, London. Remember that ultra-low power also means ultra-low costs. According to Mr. Errey, the smart patches could cost “two digits, maybe less” to manufacture. While hospitals may be willing to pay quite a bit more, the low production costs mean that this device could have a nearly universal presence in Western hospitals within the next five years.

Part of a Whole

The Sensium Life Pebble from Toumaz

While the smart patch is coming soon, the Sensium Life Pebble is already here. This non-disposable version of the sensor networking hub is housed in a more robust shell and can have batteries replaced. It also has three-dimensional accelerometers to track motion. According to Errey, this device won’t cost considerably more than the smart patch because it’s “basically the same functionality.” The Life Pebble is days away from CE marketing approval, meaning that Toumaz can start selling it all over the European Union, either to health professionals or just your average citizen. Unlike hospitals, which already have systems in place to transmit vital signs, your home is an untapped mine of health information. Life Pebble will help you access that data.

As impressive as the various Sensium devices are, however, they are just part of the entire Sensium system. What has impressed me with Toumaz is the forward-thinking problem solving inherent in their design. Sensium is as much a software and networking protocol as it is a silicon chip. Toumaz has devised ways of working around signal blocking, switching channels, and the myriad of other forms of interference that could impede the ultra-low wireless communication. That’s a good thing if you don’t want a heart-attack to go unnoticed.

The actual network has limitations. The range for wireless communications is about five to ten meters from the Sensium chip to the receiver, the same for Bluetooth more or less. From that receiver, the signal can be sent longer distances to a relay station, computer, or other network hub. According to Errey the network will utilize a star networking scheme with 8 chips to a single receiver. Each chip could handle about 6 different kinds of sensors. While this is actually impressive for today’s technology, I wonder how this will hold up in an emerging hospital environment that will have more technology and more patients per square foot than current ones. Undoubtedly the network will have to advance with demands.

Your Body in the Future

While the model environment for health monitoring may seem to be a hospital, that will likely change very soon. As Singularity Hub has stated before, the future holds promise of almost continuous monitoring, whether you are in good health or poor. When asked if Toumaz Technology is prepared for this trend, Errey says “Absolutely…The requirement to understand your own physical state–the well being or sickness, however you want to define it– is pretty universal.” In Toumaz’s opinion, even if you aren’t an Italian soccer star, you’re going to want to know how your body is doing.

Which is part of the reason why Toumaz has given Texas Instruments (TI) a distributing license for the Sensium hardware. Part of that partnership will see Toumaz and TI develop an open source, or open API type protocol to allow users to design their own method of using the monitoring device. We could see third party applications that allow us to design how we use common sensors in our homes or at work. Wouldn’t it be nice to know if your reflexes were too impaired to drive, or if your child actually was too sick to go to school?

The continuous monitoring of our actions could lead to some very interesting insights into how our bodies work. Like those Italian footballers, we could learn a lot about how we work, and use that to develop all kinds of new health plans or technologies. Errey pointed out that, “The reason this generally hasn’t been recognized to date is that it’s been too expensive to have this kind of knowledge, and it was always taken in the context of a pathological state. You were always strapped up and monitored in a hospital…What it’s like to be healthy and active, that’s working with new data.”

Toumaz has already helped gather data for improving athletic performance.

This new data could be collected by individuals on themselves, but it could also be sent to doctors, employers, children, spouses, or the government. So we have to ask ourselves, who owns the data about your health? “That’s the 64 million dollar question,” says Errey. “At the technology layer itself I don’t think there’s an issue…There’s an inherent privacy in the system.” The Sensium network is hard to eavesdrop on, and there are software encryptions available. Built-in encryption will be a staple in the next generation of the devices.

However, the data has to be stored somewhere. Patients or doctors, or whoever will want access to it. “At that point, these questions become very very pertinent…very serious. Who do you trust with the data? Who owns the data? It’s going to be a very interesting debate.” Just to highlight the scope of that debate, Toumaz Technology LTD is developing partnerships not only with TI but also with companies in the veterinary, military, and law enforcement sectors.

It’s too early to tell if Toumaz will be THE monitoring network technology of the future. Even Errey admits that there is more than one way to approach the challenge. Sensium, however, is the only ultra-low power device of its kind, and would seem to be the least obtrusive. No matter which technology is eventually used however, the trend is clear: we’re going to be watching our bodies a whole lot closer. As that data is collected we’ll all have to worry about not only what the data means, but who gets to look at it. Just as we hope to learn more about ourselves, we may want to keep more hidden from others. If not for our own pride, then to avoid the prejudice that could come with the information.

Just to show that Keith Errey (top far right) isn't all business, here's a pic of him with comedian Rowan Atkinson (top center). God help us if they start trying to monitor Mr. Bean.

The eScale will send your weight via cell phone signal to the Internet. Better start working out!

If Reality TV has taught us anything about weight loss it’s that the more people who are watching you, the quicker you’ll drop the pounds. Social pressure is a key ingredient in the eScale from Body Trace. This bathroom scale comes equipped with a modified cell phone module allowing it to broadcast your weight to a Body Trace “motivational webpage.” There you, or your avatar, can display the fluctuations in your weight with all the pride or shame that you want. Along with a calorie calculator, BMI graph, and health tips, the Body Trace motivational page allows you to connect with friends and strangers to share in your experience. It’s social networking meets weight loss obsession.

This isn’t the first web-based weight loss device Singularity Hub has seen. There are smart toilets that will analyze your weight as you pee, as well as analyze it for your doctor. There are big differences with Body Trace, however. First, the eScale has a GSM network module, so it connects directly to the Body Trace server straight out of the box. No WiFi or other setup necessary. You just pop in the batteries (six D-cells included) and step on the eScale. It’s that simple. Second, Body Trace is really pushing the networking aspects of their motivational page. Looking at the screen shot, I am reminded of Facebook’s wall interface. It’s a nice concept, and I have no doubt that being able to share the weight loss struggle will really help some people achieve their goals.

The Body Trace motivational page allows you to publicly (and anonymously) share your weight with friends and strangers.

The only real question I have is, is it worth the price? The eScale itself is fairly cheap (~$120 USD) but  the motivational page, and all the online services come at a rate of $20 for 3 months. If you pre-order you get three months free, and referrals also earn you three months, but any way you slice it, you’ll eventually be paying Body Trace above and beyond the price of the scale. If you’re thinking about splitting that cost among different members of your household, think again. Each scale is good for one customer only. Straight from the Body Trace FAQ (emphasis mine):

“Multiple eScales can co-exist in the same household and we actually suggest to have one for everybody in the family. Only one person can use a given eScale, so if there are more members of the family that keep track of their weight, then using multiple eScales is a good idea. You can even mark each other as “Friends” so you can keep track of each others success. “

Even at a total price for the year at $200 ($120 for the eScale and $80 for the service) I think people would pay, but to me it’s pretty outrageous that you can’t share the scale. Would including that modality really have been that hard? Also, while the sample motivational page is ads free, I think including ads is a better choice than charging clients for access. Most weight loss products would pay premium rates for ad space in a weight-loss social network. And few social networks charge for membership. I get the feeling that Body Trace has a promising and innovative product, but may be lacking in long term business acumen.

Which is unfortunate, because I think Body Trace is otherwise a very intelligent and interesting company. If nothing else you should read through their blog because it is a great look at the hi-tech entrepreneurial process. The social networking meme is one of the defining paradigms of the upcoming generation. A generation, if we are to believe the experts, will be mostly comprised of the obese. The eScale and the Body Trace motivational page make a lot of sense. They also fit in with a larger trend of body monitoring that will define our lives as technology and health care merge further. Whether you are talking scales or toilets, advanced health care is coming into our bathrooms and information is going to be streaming out. No matter how you measure it, however, tracking your weight loss and sharing that data will likely carry a heavy price tag.

The VeriChip implant. Photo: Business Week

The VeriChip is the first radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip that’s been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in humans. The chip is the size of a long grain of rice, and can be implanted pretty much anywhere in the body (most commonly along the tricep). Depending on how it’s used, the chip could do anything from telling doctors your medical background to buying you a round at the club.

Outside of human bodies, RFID is already used for a wide range of purposes. If you pay highway tolls electronically, that little box in your car has an RFID tag in it. Lots of folks implant their pets with RFID chips in case they get lost, as animal shelters increasingly scan pets for them. Wal-Mart tracks their shipments with RFID, which has apparently revolutionized supply chain management. Hell, there’s even one in your passport.

But why put one inside your body? As interesting as it might be to have your ID show up on an x-ray, most people would rather suffer a line at the DMV than a rice-injection. Sure, it might make for good conversation at a party. But is that worth the needle? What would it take to get one under your skin?

Emergency Situations

VeriChip Corp. markets their product to address what they call “a serious need for personal identification and information in emergency situations.” Over the past two years, the company has piloted their product with 200 Alzheimer’s patients in a Florida facility. Because of their condition, many patients are unable to effectively communicate if they are admitted to the hospital without caregivers present. The VeriChip contains a 16-digit ID number which links the recipient to a secure computer database where their medical information is stored. The chips are used to replace MedicAlert wristbands, which can be removed or damaged.

Most other proposed applications for in-body RFID are medical in nature: providing doctors immediately with a patient’s medical records, or identification if they are unconscious or unable to communicate. Still, these applications require that each hospital contain a computer database to connect an individual’s tag with their information. That’s probably a long way off.

Chip n Club

Luckily, the hospital isn’t the only testing ground for RFID chips under the skin. A nightclub in Barcelona called Baja Beach has started offering chip implants to its customers, giving them access to VIP lounges and letting clubbers buy drinks by acting as a debit account. Who wants to carry a wallet or purse when the dress-code is board shorts and bikinis? Baja Beach contracted none other than VeriChip Corp. to fashion their subcutaneous membership cards. I guess last call counts as an “emergency situation.”

In the past, VeriChip Corp claimed their chips could not be counterfeited: if your ID is under the skin, it can’t be so easily stolen. Wrong. At a hacker conference in 2006, Annalee Newitz and Jonathan Westhues showed that they had successfully cloned an RFID chip implanted in Newitz. A home-built antenna let the hackers steal the unique ID contained on the chip, which apparently lacks any sort of security device.

If RFID chips aren’t exactly secure, most people won’t want their social security number contained on one. After all, if a doctor’s office can pull your medical records from the chip (and a hacker can, too) what’s stopping your insurance agency? Or identity theives? That limits the chips to using random numbers, corresponding to useful information on a separate  and secure database. And until those databases are standardized and prevalent, having a chip in your body won’t speed up your doctor’s visit very much.

Counter-ID

As you might already imagine, in-body RFID chips have spawned a considerable backlash of protest. The group AntiChips calls the VeriChip “human branding,” especially in the case of the “volunteers” for the program with Alzheimer’s disease. They also claim the chips cause cancer (citing a number of animal studies), and that the FDA approval should be revoked (more info here).  There are also a number of additional risks which the FDA already recognizes: tissue reactions, migration of the chip, even the chance that the chip could carry a current from MRI magnets and burn the patient.

AntiChippers

And that’s just the beginning. The chips have been called the precursor to a perfect authoritarian state, letting Uncle Sam (or Illuminati, or whoever) track your each and every move. On the other end of the spectrum, some religious groups (well, okay, this one) have implicated the VeriChip in a plot involving the mark of the beast (666), part of a conspiracy theory to rival the most imaginative of left-wingers. Wait, this one too.

But if I can interject my own opinion, I’d say the whole business is a bit overhyped. Honestly, there aren’t really any good applications for in-body RFID. Sure, it could hypothetically improve health-care (if and when the patient is unconscious), but for that system to be effective, every hospital would need to have integrated the chips into their standard procedures. It won’t replace a photo ID in your wallet anytime soon. And unless you’re grinding some PYT* in Barcelona, you’ll probably pay for that Pabst with good old fashioned cash. Take (a) the lack of practical applications, plus (b) legitimate concerns over ID hacking and health risks, and poof!  There goes the revolution.

If any readers have ideas for scenarios in which an in-body RFID would be practical & useful, please do share (comments below).

*RIP M.J.

Proteus Ingestible Sensors

In the ongoing onslaught of body 2.0 (the constant monitoring of the body to ensure that health problems are caught and treated early) here at Singularity Hub, we have brought you the SmartPill, a digestive system tracker that has many similarities with the Raisin chip.  Although both are meant to be eaten and both can transmit information back out to a portable data receiver, the Proteus system is designed to be packaged along with another medication inside of a pill, giving doctors a different dataset than the SmartPill.

Raisin can be a great help to doctors who are trying to closely monitor their patients.  Firstly, it can tell the doctor which medication was taken and if the medication was taken at all.  This could prove quite useful for patients who would resist taking the medication or those patients that do not take dosages in the correct amount or at the right time.  The benefits do not stop after the medication is in the body, as the microchip is able to transmit the patient’s vital signs (heart rate and such) in real-time.  Doctors will then be able to tell exactly what physiological changes occurred with medication and change dosages as needed for an optimal patient response.

The clinical trials are set to begin within the next year, with participating patients receiving medication for birth control, post-op management, psychiatric help and elderly care.  The tracking that the Raisin system is capable of performing gives patients similar feedback as the care that they would receive in the hospital, but keeps beds free and costs down.  This new type of commonplace monitoring technology is beneficial to both doctors and patients, allowing for detailed care while the patient is free to go about normal activities.

There is no word yet as to how long the microchip lasts within the body.  It is created from fully digestible food products and is powered by stomach acid, so it is likely that it would only last slightly longer than the medication with which it is packaged.  That is the key difference between today’s technology and that of body 2.0.  With body 2.0, there would be no need to continually ingest the microchip.  It would be permanently implanted, allowing for constant monitoring for years, not hours.

They are also in the process of creating an implantable microchip that does not disintegrate when exposed to bodily fluids.  They call it ChipSkin, and it protects active electronics in implantable devices such a pacemakers, allowing for the longevity of implantable devices that would be a cornerstone of the body 2.0 revolution.  Although much may be left to be desired in the actual implanting process, ChipSkin gives hope that humanity is heading in the right direction.

While this technology may be a ways away, we have Proteus’ back in this fight.  They already have nearly $100 million in funding but with our blessing, success is practically guaranteed.  The path to body 2.0 is long and probably fairly arduous but, with companies like Proteus laying the foundation, it will certainly make its way into the everyday home in the future.  The Raisin is just the beginning of smart medications that can tell when the patient does not react positively even before the patient does.  This technology combined with the strength of the ChipSkin could eventually allow the implantation of a constantly monitoring device, ushering in the era of body 2.0.

Good news, it's not a suppository

The one-time use Smart Pill is ingested by the patient in a doctor’s office.  A data receiver is worn by the patient, or kept within at least five feet, while the pill naturally passes through the body.  The pill is capable of transmitting data continuously for up to 72 hours, including pressure, pH and temperature.  Connecting the data recorder to a PC will allow doctors to figure out residence times in each area of the GI tract as well as pressure contraction patterns, which may indicate signs of GI issues.

This valuable tool is part of the beginning of the body 2.0 revolution, a continuous monitoring of all systems within the body that will alert the patient at the first signs of malady.  On top of that, the data collected from millions of users would be put in a database for all others to see, creating a free, open source information system similar to the Personal Genome Project.  The true body 2.0 may be a ways off in the future, but the Smart Pill is available now and may already be in the local GI specialist’s collection already.  Such a simple and painless way of monitoring the body for wellness will make it the process much easier for both doctors and patients.

While the GI tract is a bit of an easy one to measure (it’s a linear system, from in to out), it is possible that data-gatherers for other systems may soon follow.  Perhaps scientists could use the same principles to measure breathing for asthmatic patients, alerting them to the best time to take medication or even administering it automatically.  Similarly, the insulin pump, which works to monitor glucose levels in the body and inject insulin as needed, has been common practice for patients with Type 1 diabetes for quite some time.

Humans have begun to follow the path to body 2.0, and the next step is to create less invasive permanent solutions.  The Smart Pill only stays in the body for a three day maximum at a time (it depends on the patient’s evacuation time), which is great for a routine check-up at the doctor’s office, but what about a chronic patient who needs constant monitoring?  Perhaps taking a pill every few days is not much of a chore, but it would be significantly better to have real-time data all the time that can be analyzed automatically and warn a patient as necessary.

Body 2.0 has not yet arrived, but medical breakthroughs like the Smart Pill are slowly building the practice of medicine up to that point.  Will diseases be eradicated and people live forever due to this magic meld of man and machine?  Either way, humanity will be closer to that utopian goal than it ever has before.  Body 2.0 is certainly in the near future and, when that revolution happens, early detection of diseases and constant monitoring of disorders will lead to a better survival rate and better quality of life for those who suffer.

Braingate reads signals in the motor cortex and translates those signals into movements of a cursor on a screen.

The procedure for implanting Braingate may seem pure science fiction, but it works. Hair-thin gold wires are connected to individual neurons in the brain’s motor cortex. These wires are gathered at a small silicon array and connected to a “pedestal” embedded in the skull. This metallic interface is easy to spot (it’s a big metal nub on the top of the head). From the pedestal, signals can be sent to a computer for translation. By interpreting the motor cortex signals, scientists can determine what your brain would be trying to move (arm, hand, finger, etc) if you weren’t paralyzed.

So you have a metal nub in your head, and some wires poking into your brain, what’s the pay off?  How about the most intuitive mouse ever: by thinking about raising or lowering their hands, patients can move a cursor on the screen of a PC. Squeeze their imaginary hand, and the cursor clicks. The brain signals aren’t completely mapped out yet, and keeping track of one’s thoughts isn’t an easy task, so the cursor tends to jiggle a little and can be hard to move quickly. That being said, it allows individuals who have a hard time even blinking to be able to communicate with others and manipulate devices from their computer. Check out Kathy Hutchinson, one of the first patients, in this story from 60 minutes, the cable connected to her skull seems to be straight out of the Matrix:

Moving Right Along

This amazing technology is the work of many different collaborators, chief among them are Dr. John Donoghue from Brown University, who is also the head of Cyberkinetics, and Dr. Leigh Hochberg from Massachusetts General Hospital. While most of the videos you can find of these two are more than a year old, their work is still developing quickly. Dr. Hochberg began the long process of pilot clinical trials back in February of this year. With the clinical trials will come a better understanding of how to interpret motor cortex signals and increase the tasks able to be performed by patients. Cyberkinetics is already testing a motorized wheelchair, and has plans to develop methods for regaining breathing, bladder, and bowel control.

Expectedly, Braingate is well received publicly and Dr. Hochberg is seeking Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA. Like the Humanitarian Device Exemption given to other implants, this allows the research to continue with human trials quickly. And the technology is developing at a rapid pace. It was only 2005 when we first heard about the beginning experiments to map signals from the brains of rhesus monkeys. The next four to five years will likely see another flurry of development.

I think that this technology is on the brink of runaway growth and success. As Braingate moves forward and is refined, it is poised to mesh with dozens of other related technologies. Singularity Hub has shown you the prosthetic devices, robotic exoskeletons, brain controlled robots, and fMRI mind-reading systems already on the horizon. Soon, I think we’ll see a convergence of these various tools that, while developed separately, have a similar goal: allowing human thoughts to directly affect real-world objects. Once these technologies function better than normal human equivalents we will seem them transition from therapies to everyday utilities.

For now, Braingate returns a precious commodity: control. For many locked-in their own bodies, the best hope they had would be to communicate by blinking. Using a direct neural interface, these same patients have the prospect of writing letters for themselves and maybe even guiding their own wheelchairs. In the future, those prospects may expand to include walking with the help of an exoskeleton or commanding a helper robot. Without a doubt, brain signal technology is taking small steady steps forward every day. Like the Count de Monte Cristo, scientists are slowly digging an escape from the prison that these patients are held in. Together with their patients, they prove that even greater than the terror of being buried alive is the determination to one day be free again.

The Enterra neurostimulator implant as seen after installation. Photo from botjunkie.com

It takes general anesthesia and surgery to place the Enterra ® device, but afterwards doctors can adjust it externally, using a remote apparatus. Not a bad trick, and one that allows patients to avoid further invasive procedures. While it may take a little more work to install than other implants (did you know that a pacemaker only requires local anesthesia nowadays?) it has benefited from their popularity. Medtronic received special humanitarian device exemption (HDE) from the US FDA for Enterra ®. This means that while the device’s benefits haven’t been proven rigorously, the FDA is willing to let it be placed in patients. All it takes is a facility’s institutional review board to approve the device, and many have already done so.

That’s a big leap in faith for government and patient alike, and it says something about our modern opinion of implants. We’ll take any solution that’s likely to work, and especially if it seems high tech enough. Singularity Hub recently discussed stem cell treatments for diabetes, but the truth is that most of the people suffering from diabetes and related disorders need treatments that are available today. For some of those, implants are a solution, and are well worth any associated risks.

The intestinal implant closely resembles a pacemaker. Photo from Medtronic

Like most other implants, Enterra® is a neurostimulator, working to replace or compensate for our most finicky of cells: nerves. As technology progresses, however, implants will likely evolve from purely electrical devices to chemical synthesizers. With the advance in technology, you can bet patients will be clambering to try them out. Why not? — we all want to upgrade.

Everywhere we look, cybernetics is working its way into our lives and under our skin. The Enterra® implant is only one of the many possible paths to introducing cyborgs into our lives. Singularity Hub has shown you the telescopic eye, continuous body sensors, external robotic skeletons, and brain-controlled arms and wheelchairs — all possible routes to melding man and machine. While some of these technologies hope to improve individuals beyond human limits, most will also be used to level the playing field for humans with disabilities. In either case, cybernetics may one day develop into the cure for the common human.

While few currently used implants are considered “cures”, most have proven to be invaluable as treatments. Hopefully Enterra ® will join the pacemaker as a safe and functional solution to a common disorder. When it comes to sufferers of gastroparesis, we can rebuild them…better, stronger, faster…or at least with the ability to pass food through their stomachs.

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