All articles tagged with #technologyhealth
An experienced swimmer in New South Wales, Australia, was rescued after using his Apple Watch to call for help when he was caught in strong ocean currents and dragged a kilometer offshore. The swimmer, Rick Shearman, used the watch's SOS function to contact emergency services, who dispatched a rescue helicopter to save him. The incident highlights the life-saving potential of wearable technology in emergency situations.
Marble, a startup founded by former Headway co-founders and backed by Khosla Ventures, offers affordable online group therapy for teens to address the rising mental health crisis. The company partners with school counselors and works with insurance, including Medicaid, to provide accessible mental health care. Marble aims to solve logistical challenges of group therapy and plans to expand its services beyond New York.
The Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided internet subsidies to low-income and rural households, including tribal areas, has run out of funds. This endangers telehealth services and internet access for many, with significant impacts on rural and tribal communities. Lawmakers are debating the program's future, while the Biden administration urges Congress to act and has secured low-cost plans from major internet providers to mitigate the impact.
Google has introduced a new feature called A.I. Overviews that uses generative A.I. to answer health-related questions. However, experts warn that the technology can provide inaccurate or misleading information, sometimes based on unreliable sources, which could pose risks to users' health.
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a bilingual brain implant using AI to help a stroke survivor named Pancho communicate in both Spanish and English. The implant decodes his brain activity into sentences, allowing him to switch languages based on preference. This breakthrough demonstrates the potential of bilingual speech neuroprostheses to restore natural communication for bilingual individuals with paralysis.
The first person to receive Neuralink's brain-chip implant shares how the device has significantly improved his quality of life by enabling him to reconnect with the world, interact on social media, and regain a sense of independence despite initial challenges and risks.
The Apple Vision Pro's use of Pulse Width Modulation to regulate brightness and color mix may pose health risks for some users, including motion sickness and potential issues related to constant flashing. Strobing lights can trigger flicker vertigo, photosensitive epilepsy, and aggravate other health conditions such as migraines and traumatic brain injuries. The device's design, which covers the user's entire field of vision, increases the impact of the strobing. Users experiencing any unusual symptoms are advised to stop using the device and consult a doctor, while caution is urged for new owners to avoid excessive use.