wireless

If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.

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Sensor-studded clothes, carpets, and homes could track the gait of grandma or grandpa and ensure that they're not in danger of falling. The U.S. National Institute on Aging has sponsored initial research into how such wireless monitoring could better monitor the health of a growing geriatric population. The European Union has also devoted $1.5 billion to studying technologies and services for the aged.

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Two Oslo-based design researchers have created a visual model of RFID fields in an effort to show curious designers how RFID looks and works, and help shed light on its functionality.

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People who dislike having medical cameras snake through their body on the ends of long tubing now have a fun alternative. A new remote-controlled spider bot can scuttle around inside the colon or intestine and perform a medical inspection instead.

Rest assured that the experience sounds much more pleasant than Neo's icky encounter with an electronic bug in The Matrix. Italian scientists have tested the device inside pigs, controlling the spider bot wirelessly to diagnose serious conditions such as cancer.

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Time for everyone at 113 East 38th Street* to ditch the cameras, because researchers at the University of Utah have found a more subtle way to spy on your neighbors: Wi-Fi. By measuring the resistance to the radio waves that transmit wireless signals, the scientists can monitor whether or not someone is in a room at a given time.

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Last year, a monkey managed to move a robot arm using nothing but its mind. The arm was wired to the monkey's brain, and the simian test subject maneuvered the arm as if it was its own appendage. Where do you go from there? Apparently, you go wireless.

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The last time I tried making beer, we were up until 3AM standing in a kitchen that looked like tornado had struck. My last wine-making attempts ended in grape-flavored vinegar. Even PopSci staff photographer John Carnett (or rather, his wife) endured a wort explosion the first time he tested his prototype DIY all-in-one brewing machine. Clearly, adult-beverage-making benefits from precise control and automation. Check out a few of my favorite electronic brewing projects after the jump.

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The first American to be implanted with a wireless pacemaker is now walking happily around while the device communicates remotely with her doctor.

Carol Kasyjanski of New York became the first patient to receive the new pacemaker, which was made by St. Jude Medical Inc. and approved by the FDA in July. The device downloads all its information into a remote monitor in Kasyjanski's home at least once a day and the monitor automatically assesses the performance of both the pacemaker and the patient’s heart. Then it uploads the information to a central server.

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Researchers from Tel Aviv University believe they've found a way to detect the severity of an oncoming flood in any given location using date from the area's network of cell towers. But it doesn't make use of human to human communications; instead, it revolves around measuring humidity in the air.

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The annoying physical exertion associated with lifting a pill to your mouth and washing it down with a Dixie cup full of H20 could soon be history. Much excitement is building around electronic implants that dispense medicines automatically or via a wireless medical network. According to a team of Australian and US researchers, however, remote Intelligent Drug Delivery Systems (RIDDS) are rife with security issues.

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