The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

TEDMED 2009 is Coming – The Best of the Best Will Speak on Medicine

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by Aaron Saenz on September 25th, 2009

tedmed-2009It’s hard to find a group of speakers that are as famous, as inspiring, or as successful as those found at TED. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design – and occasionally- Medicine. TEDMED is the medically inclined offshoot of TED, and is run by Marc Hodosh and Richard Saul Wurman. The list of TED and TEDMED speakers is impressive. We’ve already shown you Catherine Mohr, Neil Gershenfeld, Eric Giler and many others. There’s about to be a whole new batch of videos as TEDMED 2009 takes off October 27th in San Diego. With more than 50 presentations, this year is going to be amazing.

Each TEDMED speaker is at the top of their field. We have spiritual gurus like Deepak Chopra, public health figures like CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, and Singularity Hub regulars like 23andMe’s Anne Wojiciki. Of course, sprinkled into the conference are more familiar names like Martha Stewart, Goldie Hawn, and David Blaine. Each presenter, celebrity or otherwise, has a tale to tell about the past, present, and future of medicine. There is literally no other conference on Earth that has such a diverse and star studded set of speakers.

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MIT and Harvard Monitoring Cancer Tumors With an Implant

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by Aaron Saenz on August 21st, 2009

Worried about the government spying on you through implants? Well, I don’t know if your dental fillings are secret radios, but MIT and Harvard are definitely trying to keep tabs on your cancer. Their joint Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) has developed and tested a small cylindrical implant that monitors the growth of tumors. Dr. Michael J. Cima and his team believe the implant can help doctors monitor hormones, chemotherapy agents, acidity, and oxygen levels that are key indicators of cancerous growths. No longer will surgeons have to wonder if their excisions are successful.

This tiny implant is able to monitor important chemicals near a tumor.

This tiny implant is able to monitor important chemicals near a tumor.

The little implant works in a really cool way. Only five millimeters long, the cylinder contains magnetic nanoparticles coated with antibodies. These antibodies will bond to whichever chemical the implant is designed to monitor. A semi-permeable membrane keeps the nanoparticles in the implant while still allowing ambient particles in and out. When the antibodies bond to a chemical they form clumps. These clumps are then read using an MRI.

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Ingestible Intelligence: The SmartPill

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by Andrew Kessel on June 4th, 2009

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace in all studies of medicine and, luckily for all, those with gastrointestinal problems (most specifically that flatulent guy who always winds up sitting next to you at the movies) have not been forgotten.  Yes, the scientists at SmartPill have created, you guessed it, the Smart Pill.  The pill is designed to transmit data from within the GI tract back to a receiving station, giving doctors a real-time and non-invasive way of measuring health.  Well, at least the pill goes with the flow of traffic, not against it.

Good news, it's not a suppository

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.

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New Device Can Detect Viruses In A Matter Of Minutes

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by Andrew Kessel on June 3rd, 2009

Hypochondriacs rejoice!  Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have created a prototype device that is capable of detecting viruses and bacterium within the body in a matter of minutes rather than the week or two that is commonplace nowadays.  The technique was first used to detect the Herpes Simplex Virus and scientists are now in the process of making it capable of detecting all known infectious diseases.  There goes the character-building suspense of having to wait for test results.

diagram of virus detection device

Light and Channels and Receptors, Oh My!

This device could be tremendously useful when an epidemic breaks out.  There would be no need for guesswork in outbreaks like the recent swine flu.  Once the disease itself is isolated and added to the database, patients could be told in mere minutes whether they are affected and quarantined so as not to spread the disease.  If these devices disseminated into home use, the results could be even more effective.  Parents would know immediately what their children are suffering from and could respond accordingly.  The entire family could be treated before symptoms are even seen.

Conversely, this system could also help to save money in the already bloated healthcare system.  Patients could test themselves at home for a disease and, if it just turns out to be the common cold, they would not need to go in and see their primary care physician.  There would be no need for extraneous visits to the doctor to run tests that will simply come back negative.  This device could be the biggest breakthrough since thermometers went from rectal to oral.

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Catch All the Baddies with a Keychain Spy Camera

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by Andrew Kessel on June 1st, 2009

There simply are not enough devices out there that pander to the tin-foil hat crowd.  You know, the paranoid delusional folks who think that there’s always something bad around the bend and somebody is always lurking in the shadows.  Well, the Hong Kong company Brando is looking to fix that.  They have just produced the keychain spy video camera that looks like an ordinary key fob (BMW owners need not apply: it’s not pretty enough).  This spy cam represents the ongoing trend of cameras changing how we live and how we think about privacy.

spycam-keychain_camera_video_spy

Honda Vehicle Not Included - The Brando Spy Camera Keychain

This little guy is capable of shooting color video at 29 frames per second, still images or just audio and easily transfers files to a computer using USB.  It has 2 GB of memory and a rechargeable lithium ion battery.  Since most of life is spent searching for the car, it is more than likely that the spy camera will always be in hand and ready to shoot.  But is Big Brother really becoming so mainstream that everybody will own one of these?

Okay, maybe these key fob spy cameras won’t sell like Twilight books at a teen girl convention, but in the near future the trend is inevitable that virtually every person on the planet will be carrying one or more cameras in one form or another.  Here on Singularity Hub, we have covered the privacy debate when it comes to small recording devices and this keychain continues the trend of dwindling personal privacy.  As this technology becomes more accessible, more reliable and smaller, it can possibly be implemented in many more places.  This debate applies not just the tin foil hat crowd that will purchase the spy camera keychain but to everybody, as this technology is already in many cellular phones and handheld devices.

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The Scientific Battle Against Alzheimer’s Disease

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by Andrew Kessel on May 29th, 2009

HBO’s documentary, “The Alzheimer’s Project”, is free for viewing on their website.  If you have not yet seen it, make sure to take a look because this masterfully crafted, easily digestible film is an eye-opening look at Alzheimer’s disease, those who are afflicted by it, and those who are working to stop it.  The heartbreaking stories and informative scientific analysis meld together to easily convince any viewer that this terrible disease must be stopped before it ruins more lives and more families.  Watching somebody else’s family member fade away into a helpless brain-numbed state is bad enough, but knowing that it may soon hit even closer to home makes The Alzheimer’s Project’s call to arms even more stirring.

For all those Singularity Hub readers out there who want to live forever, Alzheimer’s disease should be very high on the radar.  Humanity looks to be well on the way to establishing a cure for cancer, heart disease and several other afflictions within our lifetimes, but for happy living well past a century the Alzheimer’s riddle must be solved.

The Alzheimer’s Project

The Alzheimer’s Project is made by HBO, the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health in association with the Alzheimer’s Association, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, and the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer’s Initiative.  Forty-five scientists and doctors were interviewed for the program, creating a nearly complete compendium of knowledge from which the film’s producers could draw.  The collection of films document the struggles of families that are afflicted by the disease as well as the scientific approach to finding a cure and understanding how it affects the brain.

Alzheimer's Patients

Alzheimer's Disease: Longevity's Worst Enemy

The project takes a deep look inside the lives of patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s.  The filmmakers bring to life the fear and anxiety that the elderly feel as they watch themselves slip down into the clutches of the disease.  The psychological tests that doctors use are as simple as remembering three words or drawing the face of a clock, but there is a profound heartbreak at the instant where one realizes that this patient can no longer do either of those tasks.  One plays along at home, much like avid Jeopardy watchers, trying to make sure that their marbles are still intact.

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