A helmet that will use magnetism to detect brain bleeding or swelling could lead to a new way to quickly check a person for brain injuries. The helmet will feature a small coil that will generate a magnetic field above the victim's head. A second coil sitting just above the ears will then detect the magnetic field as it is induced in the brain, which will allow the medical team to identify alterations in the magnetic field's phase. These alterations can be caused by liquid, such as...

The discovery that layered clay can stimulate stem cells to become bone cells could lead to a new generation of tissue engineering. Synthetic silicate nanoplatelets can induce stem cells to change into bone cells without requiring any other bone-inducing factors. It is believed that the nanoplatelets could be used to create injectable tissue repair matrixes, bioactive fillers, or therapeutic agents for stimulating specific cellular responses in bone-related tissue engineering. ...

The CPR coaching device will use powerful magnetic fields to help track compressions, ensuring optimal feedback and analysis. The system will consist of a two pieces--one placed on directly on the patient's chest and one placed below the patient. It will use a process called Triaxial Field Induction to constantly measure the distance between the two units, enabling the system to remain accurate even on soft surfaces or in moving vehicles, and will provide feedback in real time. This...

Tiny, glowing robots injected into the eye to monitor oxygen levels could soon be on the front lines in the efforts to help prevent blindness. The robots will be designed to be injected into to vitreous fluid of the eye and steered via magnetic fields. They will be coated with a dye that will glow when exposed to certain wavelengths of light and fade quickly in the presence of oxygen, which would allow doctors to monitor the oxygen levels of the eye by applying a pulse of light and...

Designed for the visually impaired, the portable Access Lens system will use vision-based tracking to enable people to access paper documents with gestures. The system will feature a camera that will scan the documents and software that can identify text and track gestures. A computerized grid will be laid over the document, which the user can move their finger over in order to hear the content read aloud or receive directional commands. The system will cross-check the text against a...

Expecting parents can start filling their photo albums even earlier with the introduction of HDlive 3D ultrasound machine, which will create clear, color images. The HDlive technology will be able to support a moveable, virtual light source, which will allow it to create shadows, highlights and depth. The result will be an image with significantly greater detail than was previously possible. Besides giving proud parents a better first look at their baby, the technology will also help...

A parasitic worm could inspire a new type of bandage for skin grafts that will not only hold well, but will also inject drugs into the skin. The bandage is inspired by a small, fish-infecting worm with a spine-covered proboscis on the top of its head. When the worm infects a fish, it inserts its proboscis to the fish's intestinal wall and then plumps the proboscis with its muscles, which gives it a strong hold inside the fish. Taking a cue from the plumping proboscis, the new...

A new chip about half the size of a business card will be able to automate all the stages of DNA testing, and could help make personalized treatments more widespread. To being the DNA testing process, a drop of blood will be mixed with a chemical substrate and then dropped onto the chip. The rest of the process will be automatic, as the DNA will be extracted from the solution and the regions containing the SNPs will be cut out and amplified by a technology called PCR. The PCR process,...

The idea is to develop a way to detect diseases by analyzing a person's specific 'breathprint.' While the potential usefulness of analyzing breath for medical diagnosis has been known (remember the cancer-sniffing dogs?), it is rarely done in professional medicine because the results can be too general. To help fine-tune the process, I suggest using a mass spectrometer to detect the individual chemicals and elements in the exhaled breath. This will allow to gather specific details...

Implants able to hold bones together during healing and dissolve when not needed anymore could reduce the numbers of surgeries required to repair complicated breaks. Until now, scientists attempting to make dissolvable implants had to use a polymer mixed with glass particles for extra strength, creating a material called bioglass. But the heat required to make the plastic and glass particle mix creates toxic chemicals. To address this problem, I propose treating the glass particles...