Sensors

NASA has patented a new technology called the Vision Chip, an implantable device that has the potential to restore or supplement visual function in a diseased or damaged retina. This technology could benefit millions of people in the US and globally who suffer from degenerative diseases of the eye’s...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new, wearable sensor that uses silver nanowires to monitor electrophysiological signals, such as electrocardiography (EKG) or electromyography (EMG). The new sensor is as accurate as the “wet electrode” sensors used...

Scientists at Brown University, Providence, RI, say that a new wireless brain-sensing system will allow them to acquire high-fidelity neural data to advance neuroscience that cannot be accomplished with current sensors that tie subjects to cabled computer connections for analysis. Their results show that...

Testing for ovarian cancer or a chemical presence may become much simpler thanks to a new microscopic acoustic device that has been dramatically improved by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL. The device, known as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor, detects...

According to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, future fitness trackers could soon add blood-oxygen levels to the list of vital signs they measure. By switching from silicon to an organic, or carbon-based, design, the researchers say that they were able to create a device that...

A team of researchers at the University of Florida (UF), Gainesville, are using sensor technology placed in the helmets of their football players to help measure the force of on-field hits to better understand and prevent concussions and treat them before they cause lasting damage.

Electrical engineers at the Novel Devices Lab at theUniversity of Cincinnati have created a lightweight, wearable device that can analyze sweat using a smartphone, which, they say, can gather vital medical information in almost real time, and provide more accurate health diagnostics in a way...

A team of engineers at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, has invented a wireless pressure sensor that can measure brain pressure in lab mice with brain injuries. But that’s not all. The technology, they say, could one day be used to create skin-like materials that can sense pressure,...

Tekscan, Inc., Boston, MA, announces its latest sensor offering: the FlexiForce® Enhanced Stability Series 301 (ESS301). The sensor is made from pressure-sensitive ink that allows for high quality performance with the added benefit of measuring force in a wider range of temperature and humidity, and performing...

A team of scientists from the University of Surrey, UK, and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, report that they have developed a new type of flexible sensor that is inexpensive yet sensitive enough to measure a patient’s breathing, heart rate, or movement, alerting doctors to any irregularities.

Following surgery, a physician generally listens to the abdomen of a patient for signs of digestion before allowing that patient to be fed, in order to avoid a condition called post-operative ileus, a malfunction of the intestines. Dr. Brennan Spiegel, a professor of medicine at the David...

A team of engineers at MIT, Cambridge, MA, have fabricated a new elastic material covered with microscopic, hair-like structures that tilt in response to a magnetic field. Depending on the field’s orientation, they say, the microhairs uniformly tilt to form a path through which fluid can flow. They...

The NIH’s Bionic Man site helps viewers visually explore some of the latest bioengineering creations from research funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. From prosthetics to artificial kidneys, these technologies are changing lives now and in the future.