Wired In: Medical Devices Hitting Mainstream Headlines

Smart Content Lenses Could Replace Your Computer Screen

Imagine you're an athlete and see your biometrics, distance, and other information displayed right in front of your eyes or make a speech without ever looking down at a script. These are some of the promised features from the smart contact lenses company, Mojo, which uses a scleral lens to correct a user’s vision while also incorporating a tiny microLED display, smart sensors, and solid-state batteries.

Cancer Treatment Promising, But Difficult to Access

Proton beam therapy, a form of radiation used to get rid of malignant tumors, is a new cancer treatment that uses a beam of high energy protons rather than high energy x-rays to target tumors. Proton beams are reported to easily pass through the body on their way to the tumor and are effective at destroying it. It is shown to be very precise, meaning it can be useful in areas of the body like the brain, neck, and spine. However, its not currently available in some countries.

Taiwan Partnered with G0v for COVID-19 Tracing System

Taiwan has maintained some of the lowest case rates in the world throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even lasting more than 200 days without a single case in 2020. How did they do it? The country used a sophisticated tracing system that emerged from a relatively low-tech and crowd sourced development process. The tracing system was developed through G0v, is a largely anonymous collective of tech workers, who worked with Taiwan’s digital minister and cabinet. They created a hybrid system that uses quick response (QR) codes and a corresponding 15 digit code that can be texted for free and without a smartphone to a 1922 hotline at Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre.

BCIs Stand in defiance of ‘Black Mirror’ reputation

Synchron, a company creating a brain-computer interface (BCI), works by eavesdropping on the signals emanating from the brain and converting them into commands that enact a movement, like moving a robotic arm, or a cursor on a screen. The device works as an intermediary between mind and computer. Now with the July 6 implantation of the device into a US man, what’s next? And how do they separate the technology from negative mainstream opinions resulting from its use in the Netflix hit, Black Mirror.