Medical Devices
The latest advances in medical devices, from implants and brain interfaces to prosthetics and bionics.
Top News
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There may be new hope for stroke victims and other "locked-in" people who are unable to communicate by conventional means. It comes in the form of the experimental new BrainGPT system, which is able to read users' thoughts and convert them into readable text.
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Although you may know when you need to pee, such is not the case with everyone. A new implantable sensor is designed to help those other folks, by sending a smartphone alert when their bladder is full.
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While titanium hip and knee implants do restore mobility to a great many people, they're still subject to failure. A new alloy could help change that, simply by adding a smidge of bendy, bacteria-killing gallium to the mix.
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Latest News
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December 08, 2024Left untreated, frostbite can lead to the amputation of fingers and toes. That's where a new Canadian system comes in, which will allow frostbite to be treated quickly, effectively and on location … utilizing culinary-inspired technology.
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December 08, 2024Two patients with spinal injuries have seen improvements in their ability to walk again, thanks to deep brain stimulation. Intriguingly, the therapy targets a region of the brain that normally isn’t associated with motor skills.
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November 24, 2024The body has a remarkable ability to heal injuries, but it has its limits. Now scientists have developed a way to improve on the natural process, making implants created from a patient’s own blood to regenerate injuries, even repairing bone.
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November 23, 2024People with photosensitive epilepsy could soon be able to watch TV without worry. Scientists in the UK have created glasses that can block out specific wavelengths of light known to cause seizures.
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November 13, 2024When a patient's blood flows through catheters, stents or other medical devices, there's always a risk that harmful clots may form. An experimental new bio-inspired coating could keep that from happening, without the use of blood-thinning drugs.
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October 30, 2024When someone receives an implant such as an artificial hip, there's a real risk of an infection occurring at the implant site. According to a new study, however, a covering of bacteria-frying gold nanorods could keep that from happening.
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October 21, 2024Although brain-implanted electrodes do reduce the effects of neurological disorders, implanting and activating those electrodes is a tricky process. That's why scientists are now developing an alternative, in the form of injectable magnetic discs.
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October 17, 2024If a medical professional has ever had a hard time getting a needle into your veins, you'll welcome this new gizmo from Adison Technology. By effectively turning your skin transparent, it makes needle sticks more accurate and therefore less painful.
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October 09, 2024Surgical stitches are good for helping wounds heal, but they can pop open with too much movement. Scientists have now turned that weakness into a strength, developing stitches that generate an electric charge when stretched and heal wounds faster.
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October 03, 2024While topically-applied medications do help alleviate various skin conditions, they'd be even more effective if they could better penetrate the skin's surface. Newly developed nanoceramic "stars" may one day help, by poking tiny holes in the skin.
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September 12, 2024While a number of groups are developing thought-controlled prosthetic hands, most of the devices require fiddly electrodes to be implanted in the amputee's body. Such is not the case with a new system, however, which works with implanted magnets.
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August 19, 2024For babies born with a certain heart defect, implantation of a "shunt" is essential to their survival. A new type of shunt can be expanded using light after it's been implanted, potentially eliminating the need for more heart surgeries down the road.
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July 02, 2024A new surgical technique for below-the-knee amputations retains a person’s ability to receive sensory feedback from remaining muscles. Having a prosthetic leg driven by an amputee’s own nervous system enables them to walk much more naturally, new research has shown.
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March 05, 2024A mussel protein could one day keep infections from occurring at the site of bone implants such as artificial hips. And while the protein does kill the microbes, it should still limit the development of antibiotic-resistant "superbacteria."
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February 15, 2024If someone is already suffering from heart failure, they certainly shouldn't have to deal with a serious infection on top of that. A new type of electrical wire, designed for powering implanted heart pumps, could help keep that from happening.
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