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Parachute Fail Victim Receives First Implant of the Eon Mini Pacemaker For Pain
Posted by Sean Fallon at 1:00 AM on September 19, 2008
Adam Hammond, a former member of the U.S. Army's "Golden Knights" Parachute Team, has become the first recipient of the Eon Mini—the world's smallest spinal cord stimulator. After suffering a broken femur, a shattered pelvis and a severed spine in an epic parachute fail a few years ago, it seemed that Hammond would be condemned to a life of severe chronic pain. Doctors hoped that implanting the new Eon Mini would offer a solution by delivering repeated mild electrical impulses to the spinal cord. So far, Hammond claims that the device offers "significant pain relief" and that he was able to "walk twice as far" as he could previously.
Mexico has a pretty serious kidnapping problem--so serious that there is now a market for a US$4,000 RFID implant procedure (plus a US$2,200 annual fee) that promises to help track victims down. The system uses an implanted capsule under the skin that talks to an external GPS transmitter that you'll need to be kidnapped with in order to beam your location to the folks at Xega, who are selling the service. Anyone else see a gigantic hole in this setup?
Thanks to the research team at EnteroMedics, there may be new hope in our quest to lose weight while avoiding regular physical activity and a healthy diet. The device they have come up with is implanted just under the skin and uses electrical signals to block the vagus nerve—which controls how the stomach expands when we eat. Naturally, if the stomach doesn't expand, that would mean that the user would feel full much faster than normal. It also reduces our craving for food in general.
Scientists in Australia are developing a radio-controlled contraceptive implant that would control the flow of a man's sperm at the flick of a switch. The valve would be "push-fit" inside the vas deferens (duct that carries sperm from the testicles to the penis) and could be opened or closed remotely depending on the baby making needs of the user. This is making me a bit nauseous, but I will forge ahead...
Paranoiac readers of California, you can now relax thanks to Senate Bill 362. No longer will it be lawful for employers to require you and your coworkers to have RFID chips embedded within your skin. If they are caught doing so the State of California will slap them with an initial $10,000 fine, followed by a subsequent $1,000 fine for each day that the subdermal chip stays implanted. Although to report them you'd have to know about the chip, right? And if your company is the type who'd go around implanting RFID chips within their employees, wouldn't it be within reach for them to secretly implant them as well? Oh great, new things to worry about. [
Great news, ladies! There's a new option for invasive, elective surgery that's meant to help your boobs look exactly how you think men want them to look: the surgically implanted bra. It's just as delightful as it sounds!
The Department of Defense is pursuing a brain-implantable "biochip" that will measure/relay a soldier's vitals on the battlefield (and off). We don't know much from a technical standpoint about the chips, other than they are about the size of a grain of rice and will have the ability to, at minimum, measure oxygen levels in tissue. But the technological breakthrough involved has little to do with the electronics.
Scientists have invented a gel that mimics human tissue. By combining the gel with the microchip, chances that the body will reject the device are far less likely. The entire project is said to be five years from implementation.
Personally, I'd love to see these microchips developed for civilian use, especially for diabetics and those who need constant blood work. But when framed as a government, military initiative, the altruistic potential can be scared off by Big Brother. [
