Month: November 2016

A new bike helmet won the James Dyson Award with its unique property. It is a foldable helmet made out of recyclable material. The idea is that the helmet will be storable in a vending machine, so riders don’t need to worry about carrying a bike helmet at all times.

The design of this helmet could be a starting point for other types of environmentally friendly, disposable products. The coating which is used in the helmet resists rain and moisture and is biodegradable. Therefore, it would also work on other appliances. I think this product contains a lot of innovative ideas and it costs less than $5.

There is an informative page about EcoHelmet on the James Dyson web page

There is an interesting art project on Kickstarter that merges a small Zen garden with a coffee table. The table is a soothing machine to watch, it draws circular patterns on sand, which is enclosed by a glass surface. The project has gained $1.9 million so far and had a lot of backers. I think this would be a great addition to a coffee shop. It could add a lot to the tranquil atmosphere and provide some entertainment for the customers as they are sipping their coffees. It could also attract customers out of interest into the shops. Of course, because it is magnetic, I am not sure if it would be wise to place a cell phone or wallet on this kind of table.

Recently on Youtube blog, there was an announcement about a virtual reality version of Youtube. The new application is available for Google’s headset, Daydream, and supports playing back virtual reality videos. Users say that the experience of watching a video this way is more immersive than watching it on a TV screen. Also, having no obstructions in the way makes the experience more engaging. The Daydream headset is a simple, and cheap virtual reality solution and currently only Google’s new phone Pixel supports it. With the help of Pixel’s motion sensors and fast graphics abilities, it should be possible to place the user in the middle of movies and other entertainment content such as concert videos and games. I think using phones for virtual reality video is a good idea, and combined with other technologies, could provide a new way for us to view images. Imagine using a drone while watching what it sees in VR, or being able to look around your house remotely with two cameras to check what your pets are doing. Google seems to have a good idea here.

IBM Watson for Genomics is a DNA analysis software running on the cloud. It can analyze genome data and estimate mechanisms behind tumors. Currently, researchers are training it to recognize how brain tumors, leukemia, and other cancer types work. IBM Watson is then going to help researchers by recognizing disease and genome information, going through the patient’s health record, comparing the case to literature, and finally, suggest the best treatment approaches. The article is here.
I think this is a significant step for cancer treatment. A typical doctor has very limited knowledge about maybe one type of cancer, even if he reads dozens of books and articles every day without sleeping. Compared to 50 million articles per second speed of Watson, this is next to nothing. Having Watson assist doctors by at least making a better assessment of the patient’s situation, while evaluating everything about a patient, would reduce wrong treatment and loss of life to a minimum. I hope eventually this is accessible to everyone and helps diagnose and cure other diseases without human error.

Tufts University researchers have developed a technique to use the stitches on a patient to monitor their health. The stitches used in the device are made from carbon nanotubes and contain a variety of chemicals. Each element lets the stitches detect a different property, such as temperature, strain on the tissue, or chemical balance. By combining a variety of these threads with a small circuit, doctors can monitor a patient’s status as long as the stitches stay in the operated area. This site contains more details on how the technology works.
I think this is an elegant technology. Once this technology is mature enough, a patient can be sent home after surgery. Her phone can then pick up vital signals from her body and send it to the hospital for monitoring. It also means no more expensive and bulky health monitor systems that have to stay with a patient for a long time, limiting the capacity of hospitals. It improves the quality of life and should hopefully make medical costs less over time, due to the simplicity of the technology.