IBM might have a world champion in the form of a chess computer a fair number of years ago, but intellectual pursuits are not the only agenda on the computing giant’s radar. They have taken an interest in the world of biology this time around, where IBM Research is looking into a new method of killing bacteria such as the deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), although this one will not result in the use of antibiotics, but will be based on semiconductor technology instead. This particular group of scientists were previously looking for a way to perform microscopic etching on silicon wafers at a far smaller scale compared to what is available in the market at the moment, but during the course of their research, they managed to identify materials which are able to produce an electrostatic charge when chained to form a polymer. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: IBM Sequoia is fastest supercomputer in the world, IBM bans Siri on internal networks due to privacy concerns,
Last year, the folks over at NeuroVigil came up with a device called the iBrain – a brain scanner that can collect data from a person’s brain. The iBrain was attached to Stephen Hawking who was then told to visualize making a fist with his right hand. Whatever went through his brain at that moment was then collected by the iBrain. As to what the data is, we don’t know now but it looks like we’ll be able to find out very soon.
Wait a minute here, you say. How the heck can a life vest actually come in handy when one suffers from a cardiac arrest? Well, the answer is pretty simple actually – the person wearing it is not drowning away in a pool of water, but his or her heart has stopped beating temporarily. You as the caregiver will need to deliver rapid cooling to the patient before any brain damage occurs after a cardiac arrest, which is where this life vest comes in handy. Thanks to the efforts of researchers at Hohenstein Institute in Boennigheim, Germany, this particular vest, when put on immediately, will be able to deliver rapid cooling to a patient.
Some paralyzed folk feel as though they are trapped in a “prison”, having failed to use their motor functions before their paralysis, and this can be quite a challenging and disheartening place to be in. However, there is hope in the form of a new brain scanner which was specially developed in order to help those who are completely paralyzed, by allowing them to “speak” using just the power of their thoughts. This is made possible thanks to the implementation of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that will enable patients to select between 27 characters – the alphabet and of course, a blank space. I guess future versions would include punctuations and numbers, too.
Researchers at 
You know the saying, if you can’t get the mountain to come to you, you would have to go to the mountain instead. Well, I guess the same can be said of doctors, although most folks would prefer to head to the hills than visit the doctor. This particular smart t-shirt comes embedded with its fair share of sensors that allows it to monitor patients suffering from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Chronic kidney disease (CKD) remotely. Of course, the flexibility of such an invention allows the smart t-shirt to be adapted, catering for folks living with other incurable chronic illnesses that require long term care. 