SmartPill
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Japanese researchers develop 'swimming' endoscope, we suggest being nicer to your doctor
Sure, pills that survey the wild and nauseating gastric landscape have been done before -- but how about one that can "swim" to input from a doctor-controlled joystick? A team of Japanese researchers have successfully achieved just that, with a newer, smaller, creepier version of a device they call "Mermaid." Ariel jokes aside, the tadpole-shaped accessory has successfully self-propelled itself around different parts of its host's digestive tract, all while dutifully phoning home with what we presume are pictures only a licensed physician could stomach. Whether or not the entire shindig was in high definition wasn't specified, but let's pretend your brain didn't just wonder precisely that.
SmartPill evaluates, evacuates your GI tract
We've seen a number of medical manufacturers with a common goal: getting you to swallow microprocessor-filled horse pills for things like cauterizing small, internal wounds and dispensing drugs -- and now you can add the "evaluation of constipation" to the list! SmartPill is designed to cruise the GI tract, where it measures temperature and pH, provides temporal-spacial analysis, and differentiates between normal and abnormal transit times -- you know, "the usual." The data from the pill is transmitted to a receiver for later analysis by your doctor. As for what happens to the pill itself, we'll let you use your imagination. This one should be available for shipment in January 2010. PR after the break. And please: keep the comments classy.
