Common Paradox Tech Blog

Costing just a cent to produce and requiring just a single drop of blood, this paper chip, designed by Harvard chemist George Whitesides, can diagnose HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and more. What substance makes this tiny marvel possible? Comic-book ink.

The water-resistant ink pushes the blood into the different paper channels, each of which contain chemicals that react with the blood and change color to indicate the presence and severity of the various diseases.

In developing countries where technology for diagnosing diseases needs to be cheap and easy for individuals to use themselves, it’s hard to imagine a test simpler than Whitesides’ “zero cost diagnostics”. The chemist presented his idea at a recent TED conference and summarized it in a video for CNN:

In his presentations, Whitesides explains how the paper tests could be produced cheaply in great numbers by inexpensive wax printers and proposes that individuals could send their results to doctors with cheap camera phones. Solutions for third world problems are often weighed down by their ambition and complexity, but the advantages of Whitesides’ work rests in its simplicity. [CNN via PopSci via Inhabitat

This is upsetting. A South Korean couple was arrested for starving their baby to death, reportedly only feeding her once a day after marathon sessions at an internet cafe. What was keeping them so busy? Their virtual baby.

Yeah. The couple, who met on the internet (warning sign?), dutifully raised a young girl named Anima in the virtual world of Prius Online, a sort of South Korean Second Life. Not so dutifully raised was their real daughter, a prematurely born infant who only received powdered milk feedings as an afterthought following her parents’ 12 hour days at the local internet cafe.

Twelve hours of virtual escapism a day is probably unhealthy in and of itself, but when its taking the place of your real responsibilities, well, it’s probably time to log off. [CNN via BoingBoing]

A man hassled a neighbor over his Wi-Fi allergies, and we dismissed him as a member of the tin-foil hat brigade. Now we’re reading PopSci’s look at the Electro-hypersensitivity—the real deal gadget allergy—and we’re feeling sorta like assholes.

The article opens with an anecdote of Per Segerbäck, a serious electro-hypersensitive who lives in a cottage north of Stockholm. He can be rendered unconscious by a single cell phone call.

The sickness stems not from the gadgets themselves but from the electromagnetic radiation they produce; it seeps from phones, computers, televisions, and pretty much anything else that you’d say defines our modern society as modern. Making matters even worse for Segerbäck and the similarly afflicted is that the science on electro-hypersensitivity is far from a consensus.

Still, fainting from a phone call is hard to argue with. Check out PopSci’s article for the full story of people who really can’t stomach gadgets. [PopSci]

Neurologists have built an ultrasound device which uses focused sound waves to destroy stroke-causing blood clots in brains. The procedure is non-invasive—requiring no drugs or surgery—and is already being tested on patients.

The machine and procedure allows doctors to “surround the head with an array of transducers that can focus ultrasound beams on a single spot in the brain without damaging the skull.” This means that diseased tissue could be destroyed without any collateral damage or risky surgery. [Technology Review via Pop Sci]

Conventional treatments are often ineffective for treating brain cancer, but scientists have developed a novel new method of destroying cancer cells in the brain: they tag them with metal nanodiscs and shake them to death with magnets.

Scientists at the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy have developed a process by which tiny iron-plated discs are attached to antibodies that seek out cancerous cells. Those cells end up getting tagged with the discs, and when a light magnetic field is applied, the oscillation causes the cells to self-destruct. Surrounding healthy cells are left undamaged.

The scientists working on the project emphasize that it’s still in the early, experimental phases, though they hope to begin testing on animals soon. But even if it takes several years to determine if this unique approach is viable for use on humans, it’s always heartening to see nanomaterials being applied to the difficult problems of today. [Science Daily via Kottke]

Pretty cool idea: This Mandometer plate has a scale underneath which measures how fast weight (food) is disappearing, and compares it to a pre-set rate of consumption. If you eat too fast, it’ll actually speak up to admonish you.

As embarrassing as it’d be to actually own this thing, its heart is in the right place: If you slow down your chomping, your body will register as “full” and you’ll eat less. I’m not going to buy one—I don’t need some uppity plate telling me that no human being should eat an entire San Francisco burrito in seven minutes—but I appreciate the effort. [My Digital Life via Boing Boing]

In today’s remainders, the big and the little. A big quantum computer simulates a little molecule. A big series of tubes make a big difference at Stanford hospital. And a Big Brother ad makes me a little worried.

Quantum Time
Quantum computing, like Pilates, is one of those things that sometimes seems to offer more in theory than in meaningful results. In the case of the former, the tide may be turning. Chemists at Harvard University have used a quantum computer to calculate the exact energy of a hydrogen molecule, a finding that could only be approximated by conventional supercomputers. These traditional computers, working in binary bits of zeroes and ones, falter as molecular simulations become increasingly complex. Instead, the quantum computer works in qubits which can test configurations with both ones and zeroes, allowing for more precise models. Still, some might say that “meaningful results” have yet to be achieved. [Eureka Alert]

Half Past Cloudy
One of the makers over at Make has made this handsome clock which instead of telling time tells the weather. The weatherpiece checks for updates on the Environment Canada website every quarter of the hour via an Arduino micro-controller, its lower hand adjusting to the correct temperature and its upper hand swinging to show the day’s forecast. Though the clock’s case gives it a decidedly old-school feel, it hosts a web server so it can be tweaked from any browser. It may not dispense the most robust meteorological data but what it does display it does with style. [Make]

A Dose of Tubes
Your local bank isn’t the only place that’s zipping your information around using pneumatic tubes. This report on the Stanford Hospital’s pneumatic tube system reminds us that the very old technology is still very much alive today. Stanford’s system, which includes over four miles of pipes, is one of the largest in the nation. The containers navigate the complex system with computer guidance and reach speeds of up to 18 miles per hour as they send important patient data to and fro distant areas of the hospital. Dating back to the 19th century, pneumatic tubes are not a new technology, to be sure, but they are an important one. As Leander Robinson, chief engineer of Stanford’s system, puts it: “The tube is everywhere.” [Stanford School of Medicine]

Ad Watch
At seven and a half feet tall and packed with super-smart tech, not only do you read Intel’s Intelligent Digital Signage Concept, it reads you, too. Conceived by Frog Design, the multi touch-enabled, data-collecting, life-size advertisement looks to make signage an interactive affair. Intel’s concept engages shoppers with captivating graphics and a touchable screen and then uses a built-in camera to register their demographic data. Fast Company has a video of the gigantic advertisement, but thankfully it’s just a prototype and there are currently no plans for it to invade malls or your privacy anytime soon. [Fast Company]

The WakeMate, a sensor-laden wristband packaged with sleep analysis software, determines the optimal wake-up point in your REM cycle and adjusts your alarm for that moment. It also lets you say you really use your iPhone 24/7.

One of the fundamental reasons we love gadgets is because they help us do things better and smarter while we go about our days. But there are considerably less gadgets that help us go about our nights. Sure, there are some, but by and large the activity of sleeping is one that is untouched by technology and thus unoptimized. Enter WakeMate.

The WakeMate wristband uses Actigraphy to monitor your sleep cycles and pinpoints the precise moment when you should wake up, in a twenty minute window set to your specifications. (Otherwise, my “optimal wake up time” would be sometime around noon, seven days a week.)

But that’s only half of it. The WakeMate collects your nightly sleep data and over time develops a detailed analysis of your sleep schedule.

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Though I’m not sure I need quantify things with a “sleep score”—Sleep? That’s where I’m a viking—it’s hard not to get excited about the prospect of sleeping smarter with the help of gadgets like WakeMate. The WakeMate is set to ship by the end of the month and is available for preorder now. [WakeMate Thanks Mikey!]

I can’t even imagine what it’s like to lose one limb, let along three, but it’s reassuring to know that at least there’s a wheelchair out there that’s suitable for those in a similar situation to Bryan Anderson. UPDATE

As a soldier in Iraq, he lost both legs and his left hand, making it difficult to use your everyday type of wheelchair. Luckily designer Mark Veljkovich created this super lightweight and minimal wheelchair, which allows Bryan to represent Quantum Rehab, a sector of Pride Mobility, traveling the US “delivering his message of perseverance and determination in major rehab facilities.”

Stripping back the wheelchair to the bones, you’ll notice this design is literally just four wheels, a slim carbon fiber seat and lightweight skeleton. Looks like a work of art to me. [Bryan Anderson via Yanko Design]

UPDATE: The designer and Pride Mobility have both been in touch with me, turns out there was some confusion over this story and it’s not actually in production—and Pride Mobility is keen to stress that Bryan doesn’t actually use this wheelchair, as he’s the spokesman for Quantum Rehab and uses a Liestream Manual chair instead.