Thank You to Our Readers
Dear Readers,
We extend our gratitude for your continued support and engagement with our content. Your enthusiasm and feedback inspire us to keep exploring and sharing the latest advancements in medical technology.
As we move into the new year, we are excited to witness rapid advancements in medical technology. Innovations such as telemedicine, artificial intelligence in diagnostics, and wearable health devices are transforming patient care and making healthcare more accessible. These technologies not only enhance the efficiency of medical practices but also empower patients to take charge of their health.
We look forward to bringing you more insights and updates on these exciting developments. Together, let’s continue to explore the future of healthcare!
Thank you once again for being a part of our community.
Author: Gary M. Levin M.D.
Neuralink’s human testing journey: From widely publicized malfunctions to international expansion, here’s a reminder of how far Neuralink’s BCI has come. A year ago, the first Neuralink human user, Noland Arbaugh, underwent surgery to receive the brain chip. In a video on Musk-owned social media site X, Arbaugh was shown playing chess and other computer games using his mind. But just a few weeks later, the device began to malfunction, prompting Neuralink to modify the brain-recording algorithm’s sensitivity before implanting the tech in the second human participant. Now, the robotic arm study, according to Neuralink’s announcement, will cross-enroll from the ongoing PRIME study. If successful, it will mark further applicability of the technology.
Even specifically BCIs connected to robotic prosthetics are nothing new. As a refresher, the first such technology was successfully tested in a monkey in 2008. A 2012 Nature study marked the first successful use in human stroke survivors.
However, what has distinguished Neuralink’s BCI is its size and sleekness. Traditionally, BCIs are clunky and require a constant wired connection. The Neuralink chip is wireless.
OpenAI’s healthcare takeover
“A computer can never be held accountable.”
This is a famous quote for many technologists. It’s said to have surfaced from a 1979 IBM presentation about how computers should not be held responsible for management decisions. Computer decision-making and artificial intelligence have come a long way since the 70s. But people’s wariness around a technology’s ability to make decisions with consequences is still palpable today. This is especially true in healthcare, where generative AI has been proposed to help solve issues ranging from appointment scheduling to ambient scribing to diagnosis. While GenAI overall dominates the MedTech conversation, one company's products dominate the healthcare market: OpenAI. The company behind ChatGPT has technology deployed across hospitals, pharma, cancer care, and many other settings. To some, this is cause for concern, given that OpenAI’s products are not immune to risks of common GenAI errors like hallucinations. But I’m not here to add to the fear around GenAI in healthcare. In many ways, I think the eager adoption of this class of technology is reason for optimism. Healthcare, notorious for its resistance to adopting new technologies, is onboard with GenAI.
And what is so fascinating to me about our sector’s embrace of OpenAI, in particular, is that it’s not a healthcare company—not by a long shot.
These smart glasses can decode your feelings
When you think of smart glasses, you probably think of how technology augments or analyzes what you look at through them. But what if smart glasses watch you?
Brighton, UK startup Emteq Labs launched Sense, its emotion-sensing smart glasses.
Paired with Emteq’s software, the glasses’ sensors, placed along the rim, can detect minute differences in facial expressions with up to 93% accuracy.
Tech specs for smart specs: In building a product that lays somewhere between a pair of designer glasses and an AR headset, Emteq has had to be very intentional about the look, feel, and function of their product.
AR headsets are heavy, largely because of their battery packs. The Sense glasses weigh in at 62 grams, slightly heavier than Meta’s own Ray-Ban smart glasses.
To keep the weight low, the Sense glasses use optical sensors instead of cameras, which require more battery power. These sensors, inspired by the vision of the common fly, work by detecting motion vectors when points on the face move.
The Sense glasses capture data up to 6000 times per second, looking for facial motion, especially around the eye, where motion related to emotional shifts are especially present.
The health angle: Why would we want to monitor our own feelings with a pair of smart glasses?
In monitoring involuntary facial muscle activation, the glasses aim to detect and interpret emotional shifts users may be suppressing or even unaware of. This will help users—and perhaps clinicians—track mood and mental health in a new quantifiable way.
The glasses may also eventually be used to track food intake, which reminds us of the calorie-counting algorithm we covered earlier this year.
Overall, the team is excited to eventually see this technology spawn a range of more advanced, niche tools. For instance, one potential opportunity they’d eventually like to look at is developing a tool for facial paralysis.
Another set of smart glasses?: After the spectacular failure of the Google Glass smart glasses, consumers and tech wonks alike have been bearish on this class of wearables.
But now, with new health applications for these products, the tide appears to be turning. We discussed why this may be the case when we covered EchoSpeech, smart glasses for detecting silent speech.
Emteq sees health-focused smart glasses as riding on the wave of health-focused wearable popularity. While many common wearables—from smart watches to rings—focus on sleep and exercise, this new class of personal wearables focuses on diet and mood tracking as “the next pillar of health.”
Emteq faces competition from Big Tech players like Meta and Snap, which have also unveiled their entries into the smart glasses arena.
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