Blood pressure measurement hasn’t changed much since the invention of the inflatable cuff-based sphygmomanometer in 1881. People can use the device to give readings a few times a day, but that’s not enough to give a holistic view of cardiovascular health. New electronic tattoos made of graphene continuously read blood pressure for days. The ultrathin, […]
If someone is seeking medical care, the color of their skin shouldn’t matter. But, according to new research, pulse oximeters’ performance and accuracy apparently hinges on it. Inaccurate blood-oxygen measurements, in other words, made by pulse oximeters have had clear consequences for people of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. “That device ended up being essentially […]
This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore. There are many different ways to detect cancer—by biopsy, imaging, and even blood tests, depending on the type of cancer. But some researchers are exploring a novel way of detecting cancer that’s based on the unique electromagnetic radiation frequency […]
More than a quarter-century after scientists first grew a humanlike ear on the back of a mouse, surgeons in San Antonio have successfully used a 3D printer to reconstruct an outer ear made of living cells for a young woman with a congenital ear deformity—no creepy-looking mice required. Researchers hailed the pioneering transplant as a […]
The messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines, including ones made by Moderna and Pfizer, notched some famous successes and pioneered the use of mRNA technology along the way. Now, scientists are testing similar technologies as treatments for a variety of conditions, including heart injury. New research presented in April at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine 2022 conference […]
Pacemakers, implantable insulin pumps, neural implants, and other in vivo medical devices all need a way to send their data to the outside world. But ways to do that wirelessly, which would be more comfortable for patients, lend themselves to security risks, biocompatibility issues, and high power consumption. Researchers have now tapped into the charge […]
Many exciting advances in the field of mind-controlled artificial limbs have happened over the past decade; now, another milestone brings us one step closer to seamless integration of human and machine. In a recent study, three amputees simply thought about moving an individual finger of their prosthetic hands and were able to do so. The […]
Ultraviolet light became an important tool to fight the COVID-19 pandemic with virus-zapping UV robots plying hospitals and airports, and a plethora of personal UV gadgets to sanitize phones and keyboards. Those devices emit UV light at a wavelength of 254 nanometers, which destroys bacteria and viruses by wreaking havoc on their DNA or RNA. […]
For the first time, scientists have invented a noninvasive way to control the brain circuits—the clusters of neurons in the brain that collectively perform a specific task—of freely moving lab animals from a distance. The new technique, which beams near-infrared light into the brain, may help researchers analyze how the brain works during normal behavior, […]
Deep neural networks are increasingly helping to design microchips, predict how proteins fold, and outperform people at complex games. However, researchers have now discovered there are fundamental theoretical limits to how stable and accurate these AI systems can actually get. These findings might help shed light on what is and is not actually possible with […]