Biomedical sensors typically perform their best when they’re placed in close proximity to the body. While wearables, such as wrist-worn heart rate monitors, are common these days, they are very limited by where they can be placed on the body, have poor signal quality, and are often uncomfortable to wear for extended periods. Now, researchers […]
Tag: Space Medicine
Augmented Reality Telemedicine Shown to be Effective for Battlefield
A team of researchers from Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine has recently developed and now demonstrated, in realistic simulations, a telemedical augmented reality system that can be used in very difficult and stressful situations. Called System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR), it allows remote clinicians, such as surgeons, to guide […]
Synthetic Melanin Protects from Radiation Damage
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new biomaterial, selenomelanin, that can help protect people from radiation. The new substance, chemically synthesized and produced by bacteria, helps protect cells from radiation more effectively than other forms of melanin. One day, it may be used in sunscreens, medical treatments, or for long-term spaceflight as a radioprotective […]
NASA Launches “Lunar Loo” Challenge to Design a Reduced Gravity Toilet
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has set an exciting, yet ambitious timeline to get us back to the moon by 2024! But instead of merely planting a flag, playing a round of golf, and collecting some rocks to bring home, NASA hopes to establish a permanent lunar base that will eventually act as […]
Printing Skin, Bones for Surgeries on Way to Mars
Traveling to Mars, our closest planet and which may one day serve as another base for humanity, is very far away. Any practical mission there and back will take years. The health of the astronauts undertaking such a journey will be paramount, so researchers are working on ways to be able to create customized tissues […]
Medtronic’s Micra Pacemaker Survives Flight to Space
This is an update to a recent story of ours on the first pacemaker in space. The Medtronic Micra is the smallest pacemaker currently available. It’s so small that it’s delivered via a catheter and attached to the endocardium of the heart, where its internal battery paces the heart for years. It’s certainly an incredible piece […]
Medtronic’s Tiny Micra Pacemaker Going on a Space Flight
These days astronauts are some of the healthiest and physically robust individuals that NASA can get a hold of. But one day we may see all kinds of people going to space, even those with heart conditions. Shelbi Klingsporn, a Nebraska high school student had the idea to test whether an existing pacemaker is able […]
NASA and HeroX Announce Winners of the Space Poop Challenge
A few months ago, we wrote about a NASA and HeroX design challenge that would address a dirty, overlooked, but absolutely necessary component of space travel: human waste collection. NASA’s Space Poop Challenge had over 5000 submissions from a community of over 19,000 registered competitors from all over the world. In the end, there were three […]
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Technology Used for Find Distant Galaxies Adapted to Detect AMD
Infrared ear thermometers, cordless vacuum cleaners, and memory foam mattresses are all products you’ll likely find around your home. But these three household items also had their beginnings in space, assisting astronauts in exploring the final frontier.
The latest space technology spinoff comes from the engineers at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC). It’s a device whose technology is typically used to detect faint light from distant stars and galaxies, but which has been modified to detect the earliest stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD, a disease that causes loss of vision starting with the center of the field of vision and moving outward, is said to be the world’s most common form of vision loss in adults.