therapy
Science
Get Your Cancer Zapped by a Gigantic, Proton-Spewing Cyclotron
10:00AM Adam Frucci | If bigger equals better, than Varian Medical System’s Cyclotron, designed to administer proton therapy, is the best damned cancer-killing machine ever built. The device is a 250 mega-electron volt proton accelerator, and it’s so large that it requires its own building. It’s designed to very precisely target tumors for radiation therapy, as protons have a “much shorter and predictable range of energy delivery than photons.” I’m not sure I fully understand it, but it sure does look impressive, doesn’t it? [Varian via Medgadget] More »
Gadgets
PainShield MD Cures Your Booboos With Ultrasound
1:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | If you’ve ever been afraid that you’ve already popped one too many advils, but the pain still hasn’t gone away, an Israeli medical company is offering a less medicated version of relief in the form of ultrasound. NanoVibronix’ PainShield MD, which just received FDA clearance to be marketed in the U.S., uses therapeutic ultrasound waves to treat pain and encourage soft tissue healing. More »
Robots
NASA Working On a Robotic Space Psychologist, Astronauts in Grave Danger
9:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | NASA is set to begin work next month in Boston on a four-year, $US1.74 million project called the Virtual Space Station. The project is supposed to create a program that can independently counsel depressed astronauts by supplying solutions to their typed insecurities. AP writer Jay Lindsay insists that it’s nothing like HAL 9000, and he’s totally right: that was a movie, and this is terrifyingly real. More »
Design
Sweety is Colour-Changing, Squeezable Interactive Stress Gizmo
1:45AM Gizmodo US Edition | Designer Haishu Zhang has created the Sweety concept gadget to help soothe away people’s stresses. Apparently he’s designed to be your 24-hour listener, so I guess you just sound-off in his direction rather than at a real person. And Sweety reacts with graphic patterns and colour changes that, um, help you somehow. I’m a little confused how that bit’s supposed to work, but I do understand it’s interactive mode: when the rage hits you, you can just wrestle and pound the little bugger’s soft body. And that’s therapy. [Yanko design] More »
Robots
Paro the US$5,000 Therapeutic Seal Now Available in America
4:00AM Benny Goldman | Paro, the Japanese robotic therapy seal is now available in the US. Paro is a medical device developed by folks who have built therapy robots for years, and they say this robo-companionship can relieve some of the symptoms associated with long-term illness and even Alzheimer’s. Why a seal, and not a cat or dog? Because people don’t have stereotypes about seals and wouldn’t question how real it felt. We’re all for a gadget that helps a sick person feel better, but we don’t know if you should let your demented aunt Fanny spend too much time with a robot seal. More »
Gadgets
Senslux SLD Desklamps Try to See Off Your Winter Blues, Acne
6:51PM Gizmodo US Edition | Senslux’s new SLD range of desk lamps will light your stuff with LEDs for low power-consumption eco-friendliness, and come in three types. The SG-1500 model appears to be just a plain ol’ desk lamp, but the SF is apparently a “full spectrum” lamp, presumably to give more natural light to combat the dim winter sun. The last, SA model, claims to be a light therapy for acne. Brilliant. Available in Korea for around US$150, not sure if or when they’ll make it over here. [Aving] More »
Gadgets
LTK-2000 Therapy Station Tries to Soothe Your Senses All At Once
10:01PM Gizmodo US Edition | Sure, there’re plenty of gadgets to soothe your troubled soul with smells, lights and sounds— but why buy a bunch of these, when the LTK2000 does it all in one? Once the Therapy Station has calmed your ears with 24 relaxing sound options, a pop-up ring of bright LEDs tries to banish those SAD blues. Aromatherapy scents will waft around you from its built-in heater, while an anion generator cleans up the air. Strangely its designers missed tackling all five senses by omitting a massager and chocolate dispenser, but hey ho. Available for around US$395 in Korea at first, we guess it’ll be over here soon enough. [Technabob] More »
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