Disease

Science

What Is Coil Embolization?

3:30PM August 12, 2011 | Kelly Hodgkins

You’re healthy, active and life is good. Then, you start having pain behind your eyes, frequent killer headaches and difficulty with your vision and balance. You shake it off as nothing, but you shouldn’t. You may have a brain aneurysm. More »


Geek Out

The Hot Tub At The Playboy Mansion Got People Sick

10:00AM April 17, 2011 | Casey Chan

Health officials have confirmed that the “whirlpool spa” aka the hot tub aka probably the grotto at the Playboy Mansion was ground zero for a legionella bacteria outbreak. It’s being held responsible for causing a number of people to get sick at an early February conference. More »


Science

HIV As You’ve Never Seen It Before

5:00AM February 21, 2011 | Sandrine Ceurstemont - New Scientist

It’s hard to visualise what something as small and complex as HIV actually looks like. But now Ivan Konstantinov and his team from Visual Science have created the most-detailed 3D model of the virus to date (see video above). More »


Geek Out

Why Are Chains Growing Out Of This Man’s Skin?

12:00PM November 14, 2010 | Casey Chan

Apparently, a man in China had his arms chained so tightly in an illegal prison that his flesh and skin began growing over the shackles. It’s really gross and if you have a weak stomach, don’t click through. No, seriously. More »


Science

Miniature Paper Laboratory Diagnoses Diseases With Colours

10:00AM March 7, 2010 | Kyle VanHemert

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. More »


INFLU: The Flu Collector™

3:11AM December 1, 2009 | John Herrman

Swine flu: do you have it yet? No? Well why not? You need to get yourself an INFLU mask, stat. More »


Geek Out

Are Netflix Discs Going To Kill Me?

2:00AM November 30, 2009 | Jack Loftus

If I were to tell you that Netflix sleeves and discs were hotbeds of contamination and disease because they were handled by so many people from delivery to DVD player, you know what I’d be? A filthy liar, that’s what. More »


GPS Shoes Help Locate Wandering Alzheimer’s Patients

11:20AM June 10, 2009 | Dan Nosowitz

Did you know that Alzheimer’s patients frequently suffer what are officially called “critical wandering incidents”? These shoes have an embedded GPS chip that sends an alert via Google Maps so the lost senior can be located. More »


Gaming

PlayStation Skin Disorder Is a Real Disease

4:00AM February 25, 2009 | Jason Chen

Rubbing your hands over a PlayStation controller for too long has now become a disease: PlayStation palmar hidradenitis.

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Mobile

Modded Mobile Phone Analyses Blood to Detect HIV, Malaria, and More

4:45AM December 21, 2008 | Gizmodo US Edition

Scientists at UCLA modded an ordinary phone into a portable blood analyser that can detect diseases at a very low cost. The hack could save lives in poorer areas that can’t afford expensive equipment.

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