Hasta La Gadget!

You might be twenty years old, but your body could be much older. There used to be no way to know, until some researchers from the Lancaster University in the UK came up with something called the “endotheliometer.”

They even go so far as to claim that it could become “the thermometer of the 21st century.” It’s essentially a device that people are supposed to wear on their wrists. It will then detect cardiac-induced pulse waves using LDF to measure the activity on the endothelium, which is the layer of cells that coat the insides of a person’s blood vessels.

Endothelial activity declines with age, so it can be used as a measurement to gauge a person’s relative longevity.

One of the professors working on the device, Aneta Stefanovska, explained: “Endothelial function declines with age, and diseases such as heart failureand hypertension have associated endothelial dysfunction… We can use it to check that the state of ageing is within healthy limits and can try to prevent possible complications leading to serious impairment and cardiovascular disease.”

You can find more information about the device here. One question: Would you really want to know how old your insides are?

[via DailyMail via Dvice]

Mosquitoes suck. They’re hard to kill (especially if you have bad hand-to-eye coordination) and they can infect us humans with potentially life-threatening diseases.

A project called Kite was launched recently on Indiegogo, which is essentially a patch that makes people “invisible” from mosquitoes. (It has surpassed its goal several times over, so that’s great news for all the people in Uganda who are going to get free patches, too!) But aside from warding the insects away, it would be best to get rid of them, especially if you’re constantly being bitten at home.

I’m aware that mosquito zappers – the ones that emit the bluish-violet light – are already in existence. I have one but it doesn’t really do its job well. A neat alternative is the Mostrap, and it would be neater if it actually existed and wasn’t just a concept.

The Mostrap is a mosquito-killing machine that circulates a mixture of yeast and carbon dioxide in its chamber. Apparently, mosquitoes find their way to humans because we exhale carbon dioxide. Once the mosquito flies into the Mostrap, they’re zapped into oblivion and lie dead in the bottom of the chamber.

Pretty cool, huh? The Mostrap was designed by Vishakan Shivasubramaniam.

[via Yanko Design]

People lie to their doctors all the time, even though it’s for their own good. There’s a new invention in the works that makes it impossible to deny you had that extra slab of steak or that you smoked a couple of cigarettes: tooth sensors.

They were developed by a team from the National Taiwan University. Aside from being able to detect if the person is overeating or sneaking in a couple of smokes when he or she shouldn’t be, the system also informs the doctor about it.

The sensors were tested by sticking them onto eight dentures. The researchers discovered that the sensor had the capacity to distinguish between chewing, speaking, and smoking about 94% of the time.

It’s definitely an interesting gadget, although it might be a while before it’s deployed. But the question is: would you be willing to wear it, knowing your teeth will tell on you?

[via New Scientist and Motherboard via Engadget via Geeky Gadgets]

Those evil mosquitoes just keep on biting. They’re carriers of deadly diseases like dengue fever and malaria and every day, kids get bites that could turn out to be fatal. There are a lot of anti-mosquito and anti-insect lotions and sprays being sold, but they’re a cause for concern sometimes to parents who worry about slathering their kids in repellents that contain DEET.

Then along came Kite. Kite is a patch that is supposed to be stuck on the person’s clothing. Once it’s there, it can make the wearer “invisible” to mosquitoes for up to 48 hours. Unlike most conventional mosquito repellants, Kite uses non-toxic compounds that interrupt the mosquito’s ability to find people through carbon dioxide detection.

The technology was developed by Olfactor Laboratories and the University of California with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

A project to send Kite patches to Uganda is currently up for funding on Indiegogo, and has already generated more than 3.5 times its goal with over a month left to raise funds.

[via C|NET]

You can get a lot of information from one sampling of urine. That’s what the folks from Pixie Scientific think, because that’s the concept they’re working on with Smart Diapers.

Smart Diapers are exactly what they sound like. The “smart” part is because of the fact that the diaper tests the urine the baby passes on the diaper itself. Parents can then scan the QR code on the diaper to bring up a report about their child’s health. Of course, it shouldn’t substitute urine tests that hospitals run, though.

The Smart Diaper tracks changes in the baby’s urine, which can potentially provide information about signs of urinary tract infections, prolonged dehydration, or risks for kidney problems.

Pixie Scientific explains: “Smart Diapers alert you to certain conditions that require immediate attention and also track your child’s health for months or years, automatically looking for emerging trends.” They add: “By taking useful data from a wet Smart Diaper, we make use of something that would normally be thrown directly into the trash.”

The Smart Diaper is currently up for funding on Indiegogo.

[via C|NET]