Biosensor Enables Human Arm to Be Used as Touch Screen
March 3, 2010 – 2:37 pm
From the Wire: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft have developed an acoustic biosensor that turns an arm into a crude touch screen, writes Kristina Grifantini on the Technology Review blog.
An armband, worn around the bicep, detects minute sound waves that travel through skin when it is tapped. The researchers designed a software program that can distinguish the origin of the acoustic sounds—which vary due to slight differences in underlying bone density, mass and tissue. The system then translates these locations into button commands. A pico projector embedded in the armband projects a display—a game of Tetris or button controllers—onto a user’s palm or arm. Read more…
The European intravenous (IV) therapy and enteral nutrition devices market currently offers med-tech companies a highly lucrative environment, according to new analysis from Frost & Sullivan (F&S). The market is expected to grow to US$2981.2 million in 2012, up from US$2423.0 million in 2008. This is being driven by the increasing number of drug therapies that can employ IV devices and the now proven ability that IV therapy can be administered safely and effectively in the home. In addition, the ability to administer IV therapy safely and effectively in the home has been proven, and European hospital now are focused on downsizing and reducing the time spent by patients in hospitals, which has raised the value of homecare in Europe. 
Although widely used in engineering as a parameter of surface roughness, Ra lacks the sensitivity to provide the most meaningful results when it comes to biomaterials. Consequently, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has prepared a new ASTM International guide to raise awareness of the various methods and approaches available for quantifying surface texture. The guide is described in the latest issue of 
