In 2024, biomedical know-how actually obtained to our heads—or extra particularly, our eyes and brains. Some of Spectrum’s hottest articles this 12 months had been about know-how helping our imaginative and prescient, with tales of retinal implants and sensible contact lenses drawing your eye. You dug deep into non-invasive tech to hasten sleep and protect mind operate for folks with Alzheimer’s illness, in addition to an imaging probe to assist extremely invasive mind surgical procedures.
But it wasn’t all in our heads. This 12 months, you additionally examine assistive exosuits and low-cost MRI machines, in addition to a DNA knowledge drive promising a brand new strategy to save huge quantities of info.
As we wait to see how new know-how will increase our senses or enhance our well being in 2025, take a minute to look again on the previous 12 months’s greatest tales. Read on to see Spectrum’s prime biomedical articles of 2024.
Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering
Assistive frames known as exosuits might help folks in bodily remedy and rehabilitation transfer their physique. The gadgets work by shifting a person’s muscular tissues through electrical pulses, however that stimulation can rapidly tire out the person. Researchers in South Korea and Switzerland are providing a possible resolution: an electrostatic clutch system. In the system, sleeves are positioned round joints and usually versatile, however can quickly stiffen to assist the physique between actions with out further stimulation. The know-how, known as “Synapsuit,” is being prototyped by the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.
Pixium
In 2022, contributor Mark Harris detailed how blind customers of a retinal implant made by California biotech firm Second Sight had been left with unsupported gadgets when the producer went out of enterprise. That story got here near repeating when French biotech firm Pixium Vision ran out of cash in November 2023—till, that’s, spectacular trial knowledge arrived earlier this 12 months, and the corporate was acquired by Science, a startup run by one of Neuralink’s cofounders.
Elemind
Startup Elemind’s $349 headband guarantees to get you to sleep quicker. The firm’s first product, which started preorders this 12 months, tracks mind waves with electrocephalography (EEG) sensors, then tweaks them with sound waves delivered through bone conduction. Spectrum’s esteemed former editor Tekla Perry briefly examined out the scarf, although in less-than-ideal circumstances. “It wasn’t the time or place to try for sound sleep, but I—and the others in the room—noted that after 2 minutes I was yawning like crazy.”
Getty Images
Elon Musk has made daring claims in regards to the coming capabilities of Neuralink Blindsight, his firm’s visible prosthesis aiming to revive imaginative and prescient in individuals who have misplaced sight in each eyes. The system was designated a breakthrough system by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September—however consultants advised Spectrum it possible gained’t reside as much as Musk’s hype.
Greg Mably
For folks with psychological well being circumstances like bipolar dysfunction, it’s vital to keep watch over their temper. Smartphone apps could possibly do exactly that, offering goal perception about our inside state from knowledge collected with none person enter. Unlike conventional mood-tracking apps and logs, these apps quietly collect knowledge within the background a few person’s conduct. But, whereas promising, they face challenges, together with privateness issues and a necessity for rigorous scientific validation.
St. Michael’s Foundation
When treating aneurysms and strokes, neurosurgeons sometimes must make do with blurry photos. But that will quickly change, due to a brand new fiber-optic imaging probe. The probe winds by the maze of mind arteries, capturing high-resolution photos of the mind to information surgeons. “Whereas before … clinicians had a satellite-like view of the brain’s vasculature network, now they have a Google Street View-like perspective,” writes contributor Elie Dolgin. The probe has been examined in scientific trials at two hospitals in Toronto and Buenos Aires, and a startup is aiming to deliver the know-how to market.
Getty Images
Current MRI scanners are costly and require highly effective magnets and quite a bit of vitality to energy. With the machines sometimes solely present in specialised hospital facilities, MRIs are inaccessible for greater than two-thirds of the worldwide inhabitants. But a brand new, simplified full-body MRI scanner works at a fraction of the associated fee and 1,800 watts, in comparison with 25 kilowatts or extra. The machine makes use of AI to match the picture high quality of conventional MRI scanners with a lot much less highly effective magnets.
Tsai Laboratory/MIT Picower Institute
Early scientific trials are starting to point out proof that stimulating the mind at sure frequencies may benefit folks dwelling with Alzheimer’s illness. According to a crew of researchers at MIT, sound and light-weight oscillations at 40-hertz energetic a neural-cleansing course of that helps take away beta-amyloid, the protein that clumps collectively within the brains of these with Alzheimer’s. The non-invasive remedy is at present being examined in randomized trials, and analysis will possible proceed for the following few years, although some corporations are already providing “wellness” merchandise that ship gamma frequency mild or sound stimulation.
Edmon de Haro
Our knowledge is piling up rapidly. In reality, it’s rising quicker than our storage functionality will have the ability to deal with in only a few years. That’s why some organizations are taking steps towards constructing a DNA drive to retailer the deluge of knowledge, in place of magnetic tape and disk drives. With every DNA base (A, T, G, and C) appearing as a bit, DNA provides a lot better storage density; in accordance with one estimate, all 120 zettabytes of info on the Internet might be saved in a quantity of DNA the dimensions of a sugar dice. Now, researchers search methods to effectively learn and write massive volumes of DNA knowledge.
Erfan Pourshaban
Smart contact lenses might have numerous client and medical makes use of—measuring glucose ranges, delivering treatment for ocular illness, and even appearing as a show for augmented actuality. But how do you energy a tool sitting on one of essentially the most delicate components of the human physique? Researchers on the University of Utah created a hybrid energy-generation unit that pulls vitality from mild and tears: While the eyes are open, tiny, versatile photo voltaic cells constituted of silicon seize mild from the solar and synthetic sources. Then, actually within the blink of an eye fixed, a second system acts like a metal-air battery, with electrolytes in tears serving as a biofuel. The mixture permits for steady energy technology and provides sufficient vitality for sensible contacts.
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