Disruptions: Medicine That Monitors You - NYTimes.com - 0 views
bits.blogs.nytimes.com/...ons-medicine-that-monitors-you
computer technology monitor body health identity
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researchers and some start-ups are already preparing the next, even more intrusive wave of computing: ingestible computers and minuscule sensors stuffed inside pills.
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some people on the cutting edge are already swallowing them to monitor a range of health data and wirelessly share this information with a doctor
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does not need a battery. Instead, the body is the power source. Just as a potato can power a light bulb, Proteus has added magnesium and copper on each side of its tiny sensor, which generates just enough electricity from stomach acids.
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People with heart failure-related difficulties could monitor blood flow and body temperature; those with central nervous system issues, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, could take the pills to monitor vital signs in real time.
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Once that pill is in your body, you could pick up your smartphone and not have to type in a password. Instead, you are the password. Sit in the car and it will start. Touch the handle to your home door and it will automatically unlock. “Essentially, your entire body becomes your authentication token,
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“The wonderful is that there are a great number of things you want to know about yourself on a continual basis, especially if you’re diabetic or suffer from another disease. The terrible is that health insurance companies could know about the inner workings of your body.”
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And the implications of a tiny computer inside your body being hacked? Let’s say they are troubling.
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After it has done its job, flowing down around the stomach and through the intestinal tract, what happens next?“It passes naturally through the body in about 24 hours,” Ms. Carbonelli said, but since each pill costs $46, “some people choose to recover and recycle it.”