This Is the Most Detailed Map of Human Brain Connections Ever Made

This Is the Most Detailed Map of Human Brain Connections Ever Made

This image could be hung in a gallery, but it started life as a tiny chunk of a woman’s brain. In 2014, a woman undergoing surgery for epilepsy had a tiny chunk of her cerebral cortex removed. This cubic millimeter of tissue has allowed Harvard and Google researchers to produce the most detailed wiring diagram … Read more

This Code Breaker Is Using AI to Decode the Heart’s Secret Rhythms

This Code Breaker Is Using AI to Decode the Heart’s Secret Rhythms

Roeland Decorte grew up in a nursing home in Belgium, where he learned to spot the subtle early signs of mental decline in small changes to how residents walked or talked. When Decorte was 11, his father, who owned and managed the care home, started waking up in the middle of the night with chest … Read more

Health Care Should Be Designed for the Extremes of Life

Health Care Should Be Designed for the Extremes of Life

“The adoption of new ideas and the pace of change in health care can lag behind other innovations that consumers experience every day,” says Yves Behar, an industrial designer and founder of design firm fuseproject. People, Behar continues, become frustrated when they contrast their experience in clinics and hospitals versus, for instance, the consumer experience … Read more

The UK’s NHS Going Digital Would Be Equivalent to Hiring Thousands of New Doctors

The UK’s NHS Going Digital Would Be Equivalent to Hiring Thousands of New Doctors

The NHS app could not only allow appointments to be made, but also let patients receive notifications about vaccine campaigns, health tests, cancer screening, and even upcoming clinical trials. “Clinical trials can use genomics to identify patients who will benefit from the latest treatments, but they struggle to recruit—not for a lack of people willing … Read more

Sexist Myths Are a Danger to Health

Sexist Myths Are a Danger to Health

In 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration made an unprecedented recommendation, advising that women should receive a lower dosage of the insomnia drug zolpidem than men. The rationale behind it was that medication seemed to affect women for longer periods, which could become a safety issue. However, in 2019, research conducted at Tufts University … Read more

Who Tests If Heat-Proof Clothing Actually Works? These Poor Sweating Mannequins

Who Tests If Heat-Proof Clothing Actually Works? These Poor Sweating Mannequins

Meet ANDI, the world’s sweatiest mannequin. Although he might look like a shop-floor stalwart from a distance, a closer glance reveals bundles of cabling and pipework concealed beneath his shell. He’s wired up with sensors, plumbed into a liquid supply, and dotted with up to 150 individual pores that open when he gets warm. It … Read more

This Small Wearable Device Reduces Parkinson’s Symptoms

This Small Wearable Device Reduces Parkinson’s Symptoms

In 2015, Lucy Yung was a young industrial designer working on assistive devices for stroke victims, people with multiple sclerosis, and those with other conditions which meant they struggled with fine motor control. Her projects included a pen that used high-frequency vibrations to help Parkinson’s patients write more clearly. Then she was diagnosed with a … Read more