Policy debates rage over health care – but how is technology transforming its delivery and impact behind the scenes? Two experts offer crucial insights into how technology in health care is revolutionizing the medical field. Read more to discover: AI wearables that detect epileptic seizures and can help you save a life The woman who...
Policy debates rage over health care – but how is technology transforming its delivery and impact behind the scenes? Two experts offer crucial insights into how technology in health care is revolutionizing the medical field. Read more to discover:
Wearable technology is already in widespread use when it comes to tracking exercise and monitoring heart rates. Dr. Rosalind Picard, director of the MIT Media Lab’s Affective Computing Research Group, says we can – and should – go further. In a powerful TED Talk, Picard illuminated the heart-wrenching examples of people with epilepsy whose lives were saved – or could have been saved – through AI wearables. We now have the technology to proactively and closely monitor many vital signs of the body, even while sleeping, and alert others if there is an emergency. These developments can lead clinicians and individuals to better understand what triggers various medical ills, helping to preempt potentially fatal epileptic seizures.
We often hear about how rising drug prices are driving the spiraling cost of health care. But even an MRI scan, essential to spotting and monitoring disease within the human body, is costly. Futurist, inventor and entrepreneur Mary Lou Jepsen – who is only alive today because a benefactor funded an MRI scan that identified a deadly brain tumor – has dedicated herself to developing inexpensive technology that uses light to see deep into the body and brain. In a recent interview with Fox News, Jepsen elaborated on her breakthroughs in affordable, non-invasive medical imaging – while also offering insights into another dimension of her technology: its ability to project people’s thoughts in physical form.
The state of health care may seem bleak as rising costs are coupled with comparatively poor outcomes. But as Picard and Jepsen show, technology may be the cure for both these ailments.
