Artificial intelligence is increasingly moving from research labs into everyday clinical workflows, and prenatal imaging is one of the latest areas to see rapid innovation. DeepTech company Diagnoly has announced the launch of its real-time fetal ultrasound AI assistant, Fetoly, on iOS, expanding global access to AI-assisted prenatal care.

Already deployed in more than 20 countries, the new iOS release allows obstetricians, maternal fetal medicine specialists, and sonographers to run the application directly on an iPad, connecting seamlessly to existing ultrasound systems without requiring additional hardware or upgrades.

This marks another step in the broader trend of AI moving into mobile, interoperable healthcare tools that integrate directly into clinical workflows rather than requiring entirely new systems.

AI As A Second Set Of Eyes

Fetoly AI analyzes fetal ultrasound scans in real time, helping clinicians verify anatomical landmarks and examination completeness

Fetoly is designed to function as a real-time ultrasound assistant, continuously analyzing the full ultrasound video stream during fetal examinations. The system helps verify that examinations are complete by identifying anatomical structures and can highlight suspicious findings through automated measurements, while keeping clinicians fully in control of the diagnostic process.

According to Diagnoly, the goal is not to replace clinicians but to provide a second layer of analysis that improves consistency, efficiency, and diagnostic confidence.

Fetal ultrasound is widely considered one of the most operator-dependent imaging procedures in medicine, with outcomes often influenced by the experience of the practitioner and the clinical environment. AI-assisted analysis has the potential to reduce variability and help standardize examination quality across healthcare systems worldwide.

Running Locally, Not In The Cloud

One of the notable aspects of Fetoly is that it operates locally on the device rather than relying on cloud processing. This approach helps address data security and privacy concerns while also ensuring the application can function reliably in clinical environments without constant internet connectivity.

This local-processing model is becoming increasingly important in healthcare AI, where data privacy, regulatory compliance, and workflow integration are critical factors for adoption.

Expanding Clinical Capabilities

The latest version of the application includes improvements in real-time performance and anatomical detection, as well as new automated measurement ratios that assist in detecting conditions such as:

• Ventriculomegaly
• Corpus callosum abnormalities
• Total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR)

These updates are delivered through regular software updates, allowing the system to continuously evolve and improve clinical support without requiring new hardware.

The Rise Of Mobile Medical AI

The launch of Fetoly on iOS reflects a broader shift in medical technology toward mobile, AI-powered tools that can run on tablets and portable devices. Instead of large centralized systems, many healthcare AI tools are now designed to work alongside existing equipment, making adoption faster and more cost-effective.

This trend is particularly important for prenatal care, where access to specialist expertise varies significantly across regions. AI tools that support clinicians in real time could help improve diagnostic quality and access to care globally.

As demand continues to grow for intelligent imaging tools and AI-assisted diagnostics, solutions like Fetoly highlight how artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming embedded directly into everyday clinical practice rather than remaining a separate technology layer.

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Cancer treatment is increasingly moving away from traditional chemotherapy and toward therapies that train the body’s own immune system to fight disease. New early-stage clinical trial results from biotech company ExpreS2ion suggest that this approach may continue to expand in the coming years.

The company has reported early data from a Phase I clinical trial of a new immunotherapy designed to target HER2-positive cancers, including certain types of breast cancer. The treatment works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that recognize and attack cancer cells.

A different approach to cancer treatment

Many modern cancer treatments focus on directly attacking cancer cells using drugs, radiation, or engineered antibodies. This new approach instead aims to train the immune system to recognize cancer cells on its own and continue fighting them over time.

The therapy targets a protein called HER2, which is overexpressed in some breast cancers and other tumor types. According to the company’s early clinical data, most patients in the study developed antibodies targeting HER2 after receiving the treatment, and those antibody levels increased over time with repeated doses.

If successful in later trials, this type of treatment could potentially provide longer-lasting protection by teaching the immune system to recognize cancer cells and respond to them in the future.

Immunotherapy becoming a major area of innovation

Immunotherapy is already one of the fastest-growing areas in medicine and biotechnology. Treatments such as checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy have already transformed treatment for certain cancers over the past decade.

Researchers are now exploring vaccines and virus-like particle technologies that train the immune system to recognize cancer in a similar way to how vaccines train the immune system to recognize viruses.

This approach could potentially:

• Provide longer-lasting protection
• Reduce the need for repeated drug treatments
• Work alongside existing cancer therapies
• Improve survival rates for certain cancers
• Reduce side effects compared to chemotherapy

Early results but long road ahead

The trial results are still early and based on a small number of patients, and the company has emphasized that no conclusions about clinical benefit can yet be made. However, the early data showing immune responses and acceptable safety profiles means the trial will now move forward with higher doses and more patients.

If future trials are successful, treatments like this could become part of a new generation of cancer therapies that focus on immune system training rather than direct tumor destruction.

The future of cancer treatment may look like vaccination

One of the most interesting long-term implications of this type of research is the possibility that some cancers could eventually be treated more like chronic diseases — or even prevented — through immune system training.

Researchers around the world are working on cancer vaccines, personalized immunotherapy, and immune system engineering. While many of these technologies are still in clinical trials, they represent one of the biggest technological shifts in medicine.

Instead of simply treating cancer after it appears, future treatments may increasingly focus on teaching the immune system to detect and stop cancer cells before they grow into dangerous tumors.

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New research indicates that mild sleep apnea may be far more widespread than previously understood — and its health risks may be underestimated.

A large-scale analysis of sleep data has found that around one in five people in the UK may experience signs of mild sleep apnea, a condition that disrupts breathing during sleep and is increasingly linked to serious health outcomes.

The study, based on more than two million nights of anonymised sleep data, also points to a broader trend: sleep quality is gradually declining, with people sleeping less on average year over year.

Sleep Apnea Is More Than a Sleep Issue

Sleep apnea occurs when breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, often without the individual being aware. While commonly associated with fatigue and poor sleep quality, its long-term implications are far more serious.

A growing body of research shows that sleep apnea is closely linked to cardiovascular and metabolic conditions, including increased risk of hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and Type 2 diabetes.

Recent findings published in Nature Digital Medicine further reinforce this concern. The study — which you can explore in this new scientific research on sleep apnea variability and cardiovascular risk  highlights that it is not just the severity of sleep apnea that matters, but also how much breathing patterns fluctuate from night to night.

This variability may place individuals with so-called “mild” sleep apnea at a level of cardiovascular risk previously associated only with more severe cases.

Sleep apnea prevalence comparison across countries based on analysed sleep data

A Widespread and Underdiagnosed Condition

Globally, sleep apnea is estimated to affect around one billion people, making it one of the most common yet underdiagnosed health conditions.

The latest data suggests that prevalence increases significantly with age, particularly after 50, and that men are more likely to experience the condition than women — although risk rises for women after menopause.

Despite its prevalence, sleep apnea often goes undetected because symptoms can be subtle or mistaken for general fatigue, stress, or lifestyle-related sleep disruption.

Sleep Quality Is Gradually Declining

Beyond sleep apnea itself, the data reveals a broader deterioration in sleep health.

Average sleep duration has decreased year-on-year, accompanied by a slight drop in overall sleep quality scores. Seasonal variations also play a role, with shorter sleep durations typically recorded during summer months.

These patterns suggest that modern lifestyles — including stress, screen exposure, and irregular schedules — may be contributing to worsening sleep outcomes at a population level.

The Role of Connected Health Monitoring

The findings also highlight the growing role of connected health technologies in identifying sleep disorders earlier and tracking long-term trends.

Platforms such as Withings are part of a wider shift toward continuous, at-home health monitoring, where users can collect longitudinal data on sleep patterns, heart rate, and other key indicators.

While these tools are not a substitute for clinical diagnosis, they are increasingly being used to support preventative healthcare — helping both individuals and clinicians detect patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Conclusion

Sleep apnea is no longer a niche or isolated condition — it is increasingly recognised as a widespread health issue with significant implications for long-term wellbeing.

As research continues to highlight the connection between sleep and cardiovascular health, and as sleep quality trends decline globally, the importance of early detection and ongoing monitoring will only grow.

In this context, sleep health is becoming a critical pillar of preventative healthcare — and one that is likely to shape both medical research and consumer health technology in the years ahead.

The post Understanding the Rise of Sleep Apnea appeared first on Tech Trends.

Autonomous drones are moving from experimental trials into real-world emergency healthcare systems—reducing response times when every second matters.

From Pilot to Commercial Deployment

Swedish drone technology company Everdrone has raised SEK 36 million in a new funding round, signaling its transition into a commercial phase for emergency healthcare services.

The investment, led by Sciety, will support further development of Everdrone’s platform and enable expansion into additional European markets.

CEO Mats Sällström says the funding strengthens the company’s ability to scale:

“This funding gives us stronger conditions to continue building the company and expanding our services into more markets across Europe.”

Drones in the Emergency Chain

Everdrone is already operating what is believed to be the world’s first drone service integrated into an emergency response chain for cardiac arrest.

Its autonomous drones are dispatched in parallel with ambulances, delivering critical equipment—such as defibrillators—directly to the scene.

This approach addresses one of the most critical challenges in emergency care:

Response time

By delivering life-saving equipment before paramedics arrive, the system has the potential to significantly improve survival outcomes.

Everdrone CEO Mats Sällström with one of the company’s autonomous medical drones

A Proven Model Gaining Traction

Unlike many emerging technologies, Everdrone’s system is not theoretical—it is already operational.

• Active service in Västra Götaland Region (Sweden)

• Procured by Region Stockholm

• Expanded into Normandy (France)

The company has also been conducting operational flights since 2020, working closely with healthcare providers to validate its model.

Why Demand Is Growing

Healthcare systems are increasingly exploring new ways to:

• Reduce response times

• Improve coverage in rural and urban areas

• Optimize resource allocation

Drone-based delivery offers a compelling solution—particularly in time-critical scenarios such as cardiac arrest.

As Sällström notes:

“Interest in drone-based solutions in emergency healthcare is increasing as regions look for new ways to reduce response times.”

Beyond Defibrillators

While current deployments focus on delivering automated external defibrillators (AEDs), Everdrone is building a broader platform for emergency logistics.

Potential future use cases include:

• Delivery of additional medical supplies

• Real-time video support for dispatch teams

• Integration with wider emergency services

This positions the company not just as a drone operator—but as a critical infrastructure provider in digital healthcare systems.

Investment Signals Confidence

The funding round was led by Sciety, a Nordic investment firm focused on life sciences and digital health.

Andreas Lindblom, Managing Partner at Sciety, highlights the strategic fit:

“Everdrone addresses a clear and well-documented need in emergency healthcare and has already established partnerships with several regions.”

Beyond capital, the partnership brings:

• Industry expertise

• Strategic networks

• Increased visibility

—key factors for scaling across regulated healthcare markets.

A Broader Shift in Healthcare Innovation

Everdrone’s growth reflects a wider trend:

The convergence of autonomous systems and healthcare delivery

As technology matures, solutions that were once experimental are becoming embedded into real-world infrastructure.

This includes:

• AI-assisted diagnostics

• Remote monitoring

• Autonomous logistics (like drone delivery)

Together, these innovations are reshaping how healthcare systems operate under pressure.

Conclusion

Everdrone’s move into commercial deployment marks a significant milestone—not just for the company, but for the future of emergency response.

By integrating autonomous drones into healthcare systems, it is demonstrating how technology can directly impact outcomes in life-or-death situations.

As adoption expands across Europe, drone-based emergency response may soon become a standard part of modern healthcare infrastructure.

The post Scaling Drone Emergency Response appeared first on Tech Trends.

AI imaging tools are helping dentists standardise diagnoses, improve patient understanding, and operate more efficiently under growing commercial and clinical pressures.

For decades, dentistry operated largely on trust. Patients relied on clinical judgement, and treatment decisions were typically accepted based on professional expertise alone.

That dynamic is now shifting.

Across the UK and beyond, dental practices are facing a more complex environment shaped by rising patient expectations, tighter margins, and increased scrutiny around clinical decision-making. In this context, artificial intelligence is emerging not as a disruptive novelty, but as a practical tool to support consistency, communication, and operational resilience.

A Shift in Expectations

The change is not driven by declining clinical standards, but by a transformation in how care is evaluated.

Patients increasingly expect to see clear evidence supporting diagnoses, while regulators require more robust documentation and consent processes. At the same time, staffing constraints and financial pressures are forcing practices to operate more efficiently.

Research continues to highlight a persistent communication gap. Studies suggest that many patients struggle to interpret dental radiographs, making it difficult to fully understand diagnoses based on imaging alone. In a system where private treatment often depends on patient confidence, this gap represents both a clinical and commercial challenge.

Visual communication is becoming central to addressing this issue. Evidence from healthcare research shows that patients are significantly more likely to understand and act on medical information when it is supported visually rather than explained verbally, as outlined in research published on PubMed.

AI as a “Second Opinion”

AI-powered imaging tools can highlight areas of concern in dental X-rays, helping clinicians explain diagnoses more clearly to patients.

One of the technologies gaining traction in this space is AI-powered imaging software.

Platforms such as Hello Pearl use computer vision algorithms to analyse dental X-rays and 3D scans in real time, identifying and highlighting potential conditions including tooth decay, bone loss, and gum disease.

The system overlays annotated visual data onto traditional imaging, helping clinicians interpret results more quickly and communicate findings more clearly to patients.

Rather than replacing clinical judgement, these tools are increasingly positioned as a “second opinion” layer, supporting decision-making and improving diagnostic consistency across teams.

For multi-clinician practices, this consistency is particularly valuable. AI systems apply the same analytical criteria to every image, regardless of workload or time pressure, helping standardise how diagnoses are explained and understood.

Improving Communication and Trust

For many practice owners, the value of AI lies as much in communication as in analysis.

When patients can clearly see and understand potential issues through annotated imaging, they are more likely to feel confident in treatment recommendations. This is particularly important in cases where early-stage conditions may not yet present symptoms.

Clinicians using AI-supported imaging report that visual explanations can improve patient engagement, support informed consent, and reduce follow-up uncertainty after appointments.

In an environment where patients are more cost-conscious and selective about treatment decisions, transparency is increasingly becoming a commercial necessity as well as a clinical one.

Efficiency and Operational Pressure

Beyond communication, efficiency gains are becoming a key driver of adoption.

AI-assisted imaging can reduce the time required to review scans and support faster decision-making during consultations. It also helps standardise workflows across teams, reducing variation in how cases are assessed and discussed.

Annotated images can be shared with patients after appointments, enabling them to review findings at their own pace and supporting more informed decision-making.

In high-demand practices, these improvements can help reduce cognitive load on clinicians while maintaining consistent standards of care.

Documentation and Risk Management

As litigation risk rises across healthcare, documentation is becoming increasingly important.

AI-supported systems create a digital audit trail, recording when findings were identified and how they were presented. This can strengthen documentation quality and provide additional support for informed consent processes.

For practice owners, this added layer of evidence can help reduce risk while improving governance standards.

From Innovation to Infrastructure

Early discussions around AI in healthcare often focused on disruption. In practice, adoption is taking a more pragmatic form.

Rather than replacing clinicians, AI is being integrated as a support layer that enhances consistency, clarity, and efficiency.

As independent research continues to demonstrate strong diagnostic performance across imaging modalities, AI tools are increasingly moving from experimental use into everyday clinical workflows. For example, a 2025 meta-analysis published in PLOS ONE found strong diagnostic accuracy for AI systems in detecting dental conditions across multiple imaging types.

For many dental practices, the shift is not about adopting new technology for its own sake, but about building systems that support sustainable performance in a more demanding operating environment.

The post Using AI in Dental Care appeared first on Tech Trends.

“This pandemic may prove to be the inflection point for humanity to reimagine the way we interact with each other,” Professor Shafi Ahmed tells me.

These days, I suppose, we all look for silver linings wherever we can get them, and the widespread adoption of XR – a technology that could ultimately boost productivity, reduce our carbon footprint, democratize education and help us all stay connected – could prove to be just that.

Using XR in the medical field

Dr. Ahmed is a UK-based surgeon who has been a longstanding advocate for emerging technologies and is particularly enthusiastic about the possibilities that XR enables.

I came across his work recently when a video on Twitter caught my attention. The short demo showed him explaining various aspects of the COVID-19 virus to his colleagues – who were physically thousands of miles away – in a virtual environment. In spite of the lag at certain points, which rendered the avatars’ body language awkward (and rather funny), the interaction still came across as more natural and dynamic than, say, a video call.

https://vimeo.com/396502397/f62420e267

Dr. Shafi Ahmed is a UK-based surgeon who has been a longstanding advocate for emerging technologies
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In the demo, Dr. Ahmed manipulated a holographic model of the COVID-19 virus and viewed 3D graphics generated from data provided by Johns Hopkins CSSE. These visualizations showed recovery rates, mortality in different countries, and illustrated the trends of the disease spread over time, conveying a much better and clearer understanding of the effects of mitigation and intervention in flattening the curve.

What is also interesting about this example is that participants were using different “keys” to access the Beame platform from London, New York, and Atlanta respectively. Dr. Ahmed is seen wearing a Magic Leap One headset, while his colleagues used mobile phones, yet they all “inhabited” the same virtual space and were able to effectively visualize and interact with both the people and objects within it. This device-agnostic accessibility will be crucial in making XR pervasive and accessible going forward.

These immersive visualizations showed recovery rates, mortality in different countries, and illustrated the trends of the disease spread over time
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Device-agnostic accessibility will be crucial in making XR pervasive and accessible going forward
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This wasn’t Dr. Ahmed’s first foray into XR collaboration, however. In 2018, Medical Realities, the company where he serves as Chief Medical Officer, collaborated with Ian Nott and Harrison Lee, the co-founders of Aetho (the makers of the Beame platform) on a project showcasing the collaborative functionalities of the Microsoft HoloLens.

From the operating theatre at The Royal London Hospital, they arranged a three-way immersive interaction where surgeons from London, New Jersey and Mumbai (wearing a HoloLens 1 device) interacted through blue polygonal avatars. The video was meant to showcase what a futuristic way of performing teaching, training and immersive consultation would look like, and it is fair to say that we have steadily inched closer to that reality since then.

With developments in facial tracking and hand motion technology, Dr. Ahmed and the Aetho team were keen to do something similar with the Magic Leap One headset, and as the coronavirus issue took center-stage that particular use case became a clear choice.

As connectivity improves immersive applications will be further supercharged
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As connectivity improves, these applications will be further supercharged, of course, yet platforms such as Beame are not dependent on a 5G rollout to work.  Aetho’s Ian Nott explained to me that they designed the platform with accessibility in mind, as it supports iPhones and Android devices so that users can get a sense of AR telepresence without necessarily wearing devices costing several thousands of dollars such as HoloLens or Magic Leap. In fact, Nott tells me that Beame actually requires less bandwidth than a typical video call, and the Magic Leap COVID-19 demo was shot on a smartphone with a poor 4G connection.

Collaboration tools in the spotlight

XR is already leveraged as a collaboration tool across many sectors, yet in healthcare scenarios, the gains seem most evident, especially in the context of the current health emergency the global community is working through.

The promise of XR lies in seamlessly bringing together the physical and digital worlds, ideally giving us the best of both. This blended reality is what we see demonstrated in use cases such as these.

XR is already leveraged as a collaboration tool across many sectors
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Being immersed in a virtual environment as opposed to seeing video on a screen gives us a heightened sense of presence, which, in turn, enables more meaningful psychological connections with fewer distractions. XR allows you to take advantage of the safety offered by technology-mediated interactions without giving up the sense of really connecting with your counterpart(s).

The possibilities presented by XR in education are also well documented – especially where it comes to training healthcare professionals – and this is another piece of the puzzle where it comes to coping with coronaries-related issues.

The right place at the right time

“This pandemic may prove to be the inflection point for humanity to reimagine the way we interact with each other.”
Learn more about how the adoption of #immersive technology has changed: https://t.co/3ydaUoOKjp pic.twitter.com/J4r1uqrxlk

— Futurithmic (@futurithmic) July 3, 2020

The post COVID-19 Accelerating VR Adoption appeared first on Tech Trends.

As COVID-19 sweeps through nations, quickly making established ways of working, studying, socializing, and conducting business impractical or even impossible, people turned to technological innovation for alternatives.

Here we look at three key areas that have been brought to the forefront during the pandemic but are likely to stay with us for the long-term.

Immersive Technology/ XR post-pandemic

Alan Smithson, CEO of MetaVRse, says that XR is specifically pivotal because of its potential to replicate the physical dynamics of collaboration in a virtual environment, enabling you to be fully present and engaged with others as you would in real life.

As most of us struggle with the challenge of adapting to this ‘new normal’ where much of the world’s population finds itself unable to safely hold face-to-face meetings, Smithson explains that XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment them through spatial understanding. “By sharing fully immersive spaces with others, we begin to bridge the physical gap between us – opening up a whole new world of communication possibilities. With XR conferencing, people may not be able to see your face, but they can certainly see your body language, and that is really powerful.”

This power, however, is only properly leveraged where creators are mindful of the unique properties of immersive technology, rather than trying to retrofit it to existing tools and procedures.

“The biggest question we should ask is can we or even should we try and replicate the presence of live events via digital means (be it digital video conferencing, AR and VR)? If we merely try to ‘copy and paste’ one experience into the other, we are doomed to fail,” says Galit Ariel, founder and Creative Director of WondARlands Spatial Innovation Lab.

Ariel says that in her view, simply having embodied avatars standing in a virtual conference room and watching a virtual slide show does not make the infinite possibilities virtual platforms have to offer.

With XR conferencing, people may not be able to see your face, but they can certainly see your body language, and that is really powerful
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Furthermore, the move to digital platforms brings opportunities to “control the stage” in ways that are unavailable to speakers and presenters in real life. While pre-tested or pre-recorded talks and events can be potentially more polished, they also lack the magic and serendipity of a physical setting, interaction and immersion. That is a much harder challenge in some ways, Ariel says, as that content then needs to compete for the individual’s attention span with all the great digital content that is already available online, and the things that are happenings in their separate realities.

“When I see online and virtual panels and presentations using the same method of content delivery, I feel it is a miss. [Although] I understand that most event organizers had to find quick solutions. Going forward, they will need to make smarter and more creative choices about what content is valuable and meaningful in a digital context, and what digital tools make sense. We also need to remember that people are quickly becoming ‘Zoomed out’ and dealing with digital fatigue.  I hope, and I am certain, we will see more creative and experimental ways to deliver content via digital means.”

Delivering new digital content through AR and VR will also depend on network innovation and optimization. Globally, plans to deploy 5G are mixed. While the U.S. is still moving forward with its plans to deploy 5G on the same timeline pre-COVID-19, other countries are facing delays in spectrum auctions, investment, and supply chains. In order to create seamless XR experiences in and outside of our homes, there needs to be significant strides in 5G infrastructure and investment into education about different applications and uses for this technology.

Smart city technology for tracking and security

In order to tackle the unprecedented challenges of this global pandemic, it is vital that local, state and federal governments are able to leverage the vast amounts of data already in their systems to make better-informed decisions that help them flatten the curve and take action in real-time to mitigate outcomes and maximize limited resources.

“Data is key toward effectively tracking and managing a government’s pandemic response,” explains Amr Salem, CEO of smart city technology company Quantela, whose AI-powered recommendation engine deploys predictive analysis to forecast future capacity requirements for traffic, crime, weather, disaster and emergency response. The company currently has over 95 live deployments, including installations in Albuquerque, NM., Erie, PA., and Las Vegas, NV.

Quantela recently launched a platform called CoVER (Coronavirus Emergency Response Platform) which enables authorities to input all their data from across their field of operations, including medical resource tracking, testing kits and results, outbreak locations, quarantine locations and duration, and critical asset locations, into one accessible database.

The move to digital platforms brings opportunities to control the stage in ways that are unavailable to speakers and presenters in real life
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The platform – which can be tailored to the needs of each locality and deployed within as few as three days – incorporates any data source that influences their time-critical operational decision-making can be fed into a cloud-based system that gives them increased insight and control over these fast-moving situations.

The dashboard visualizes complex data sets and is able to reliably predict where the virus will be, allowing leaders to reallocate resources accordingly to prevent shortages. Users can drill down from macro-level data (across states, counties, etc.) all the way down to an analysis of city sectors and even individual patients to ascertain how to best deploy resources to manage and contain outbursts and manage infection clusters, taking actions such as sending real-time notifications to health workers in a particular area.

Data is key toward effectively tracking and managing a government’s pandemic response
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Quantela’s digital urban services technology also includes a Citizen App which can be installed on their phones and allows individuals to perform self-assessments and self-report. Citizens can also use the app to receive information about the current situation in their area, including official government updates and notifications, “red zone” alerts, health advice, and the location of their nearest testing and treatment facilities. Field responders, meanwhile, can use CoVER to record their temperature and other vital statistics. Going forward, it may be possible to leverage such capabilities to detect and stop further outbreaks at a much earlier stage by monitoring how positive patients are recovering, and who is traveling.

“Cities will be able to predict future scenarios based on current spreading patterns, understand the impact on critical medical assets, speed up the allocation of patients to hospitals with available capacity, track quarantined patients, and distribute assets where it’s needed the most,” Salem concludes.

Hygiene innovation

Perhaps the most noticeable shift in our routine brought on by the spread of COVID-19 has been in personal hygiene. We’ve been made forcibly aware that the very act of touching a surface can contaminate it for extended periods of time. And while frequent hand washing mitigates contagion to some degree, our devices and wearables are much more difficult to effectively disinfect on a regular basis.

This is a problem that Amy Hedrick, CEO and Co-Founder of California-based smart tech hygiene company Cleanbox Technology had been working on for years, however.

With a background in media production and storytelling, Amy was an early adopter of immersive technology. In 2016, she foresaw the need in the nascent industry for a solution that would allow users to safely and hygienically share headsets without risking contagion transfer.

Cleanbox went on to patent a technology that uses UVC light in an LED to decontaminate hard-to-clean products worn on the face or head. With a focus on high-risk contagion transfer points; its core products were designed for Augmented & Virtual Reality Head Mounted Devices (HMDs). Cleanbox also includes a hydrophobic coating for the soft materials of the headset, to keep contagions at the surface rather than seeping into the electronics. Cleanbox products have been proven to safely eliminate 99.99+ percent of viruses, bacteria, and fungi within seconds.

“We actually started with the most difficult form factor first,” says Hedrick, “Virtual and augmented reality headsets are made up of many different materials and delicate electronics that have multiple surfaces that are hard to reach. They are much more difficult to clean than say cell phones”.

UVC is a wavelength of light that does not occur naturally in the atmosphere, so viruses do not have a resistance to it. Unlike UVA and UVB rays (sunlight & tanning bed lights), which are not generally used as disinfectants, UVC is safe for decontaminating materials including fabrics, plastics, and acrylic. The use of UVC in an LED instead of traditional mercury tubes or bulbs has the advantages of generating no heat or harmful toxins, as well as keeping the product environmentally-friendly, Hedrick explains.

Cleanbox products have been proven to safely eliminate 99.99+ percent of viruses, bacteria, and fungi within seconds
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With the global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) – in particular, N95 respirators (N95s) – and the re-use of masks without proper decontamination placing users at increased risk due to viral load build-up, Cleanbox quickly pivoted and designed a retrofit for cleaning masks, allowing healthcare workers and first responders to safely disinfect their N95s. Cleanbox’s CX1 with retrofits have been donated to institutions such as Children’s National and Northwestern University Medical Center. In parallel, Cleanbox developed CleanDefense, a machine due to launch this summer which can decontaminate up to 100 masks per hour.

Going forward, Hedrick believes this is a solution that will be important not just for first responders, but also in care homes, dispatch centers, restaurants, airlines and other facilities that continue to have a heightened need to protect their employees and patrons against contagions such as COVID-19. CleanDefense’s portable design makes it ideal for airports, retail centers, entertainment venues, hotels, restaurants, and any other business requiring workers to wear masks.

“This technology is really going to become essential for all our devices, from mobile phones and tablets to earbuds and glasses, as we move into a new reality where we will have to learn how to better protect ourselves and each other,” Hedrick concludes.

Turbulent times are often a catalyst for innovation, and this pandemic has proven to be no exception. Unfortunately – in spite of the fact that we’re now seeing many countries moving towards easing restrictions and attempting to restart some semblance of “business as usual” – the long-term effects of COVID-19 are going to be felt for many months and even years. What this crisis has also uncovered is that many of those technological “emergency workarounds” actually present us with better and more efficient ways of doing things, and it is unlikely that they will be set aside, even when the virus is finally brought under control.

This article was originally published on Futurithmic

From #XR applications to new safety protocols and high-tech cleaning methods, the innovations that will come out of COVID-19 will change our lives as we know it. https://t.co/GjyYARWxWu pic.twitter.com/vLhY1QPFze

— Futurithmic (@futurithmic) June 11, 2020

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals, and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Emerging Post-Pandemic Innovations appeared first on Tech Trends.

COVID-19 has wreaked serious havoc since it broke out globally, and although the world is getting used to the disease, working towards procedures to curb its spread and fatalities, we are still some way from having a more permanent solution such as a vaccine.

Until then, the virus will continue to impact every aspect of our lives, as well as all sectors of the economy, and tech is no exception. The technology industry has a vital role to play, pushing innovations to help us all tackle what are sure to be more difficult times ahead.

We’ve already seen some examples of this emerging, so read on for three examples of what shape these innovations can take.

Heat Sensing AR Glasses

Augmented Reality glasses have been a trend under development for a while now, exponentially coming down in price and packing more capabilities, processing power, and sophisticated sensors in ever-smaller devices that are much less cumbersome.

In addition to capturing images, it is possible to have heat-sensing cameras built into such headsets, and it is easy to see how this will become invaluable in helping to screen people who might be showing early symptoms that could indicate they are infected with a virus such as COVID-19. This would go a long way in minimizing contact and curbing the spread of the disease.

There is much discussion around what responsibility tech giants as Twitter and Facebook have in regulating and moderating unfounded claims and hold people accountable
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This will aid in the easy identification of threats and possibly help in the safer long-term reopening of various sectors that have been forced to shut down or dramatically reduce their operations since the pandemic began, and is crucial to restarting the global economy without overloading already-stretched healthcare systems.

One instance which would call for the use of such technology is football, where fans are no longer allowed in stadiums at the moment since large gatherings without screening would make it very likely for the virus to spread. Yet this lack of fans in stadia will see football clubs struggling to keep up their finances and the game behind closed doors has left much to be desired. Until we can all get back to life as normal, many of us are still facing some time stuck at home, but the pandemic has not been able to stop folks from deriving excitement from playing online games. You could, for example, choose to play some games at an online casino in your spare time to get your head off the everyday worries and soothe your nerves amid this pandemic.

Implementing worldwide video conferencing standards 

Many of us have had to embrace the idea of working from home in these turbulent times, and in the middle of this transition we quickly discovered that phone conversations won’t always cut it. And although the quality of video conferencing tools has certainly improved in recent years, we still have a long way to go in order to replicate the sense of connection and presence that we get from face-to-face communications that are (at least for the moment) quite literally on hold.

Many of us have had to embrace the idea of working from home in these turbulent times
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There is still a lot of room for improvement, particularly where it comes to interoperability. If, for example, you receive a video call invitation via Facetime, using an Apple device would be convenient on your end. Meanwhile, Zoom would need a Zoom client, and WebEx requires a WebEx client. Even the likes of Skype and Teams cannot interconnect irrespective of the fact that they’re both Microsoft products.

This is a problem that has been largely addressed in mobile phones and other networked devices, so video conferencing should move in the same direction.

Taking the fight  to peddlers of fake news and recommendations

Sadly, there has been a lot of fake information about this pandemic. And while some of it can be dismissed as somewhat funny, much of it can actually prove harmful, and the proliferation of false information has been proven to put people in real danger.

Social media platforms have been the major disseminator of such fake information and conspiracy theories about potential cures, the origins of the virus, or health advice for curbing its spread. There is much discussion around what responsibility such tech giants as Twitter and Facebook have in regulating, moderating, or at the very least flagging such unfounded claims and hold people accountable.

There has been a lot of fake information about this pandemic
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Decisive action would serve as a deterrent to those gleefully jumping on the ‘misinformation bandwagon,’ and here, too, technology can be our ally. There are many Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that can be deployed to identify, flag, and neutralize these invalid ideas and recommendations at scale, and doing this could potentially save lives in the long run. Whether there is enough social and political will to push tech companies into doing so, however, is another matter.

The post Fighting COVID-19 with Technology appeared first on Tech Trends.

Back in March, Wendy Morgan, CEO and co-founder of Shift got a call from a fellow entrepreneur asking if she had thought of using VR to train people working in the pop-up hospitals being set up to deal with the extra influx of coronavirus patients that states were expecting from the pandemic.

The immersive training consists of sessions lasting between 15 and 20 minutes in VR which will be used to teach key skills such as choice and use of PPE, patient personal care and hygiene, and COVID-19 test procedures
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This prompted the Shift team to adapt their technology – originally developed for training teachers to recognize and mitigate implicit bias in the classroom – to help with the COVID-19 crisis.

“Our goal was to provide virtual reality COVID-19 training for healthcare workers and those working in post-acute care and long-term care facilities who are being asked to engage in care that is outside their normal practice as well as for those whose training is out of date,” Morgan explains.

The company, which is based in the small town of Bend, Oregon, quickly partnered with Lane Workforce Partnership and got support from the Facebook Foundation through the East Cascade Workforce Improvement Board. The curriculum content and scenarios have been supplied by the University of Portland School of Nursing. This got the attention of the Oregon COVID-19 task force as they were looking for training solutions during the crisis.

Cleanbox technology is likely to become the industry standard for making it safe for different people to use the same equipment.
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At around the same time, Amy Hedrick, CEO and co-founder of CleanBox was also doing her bit to help with the crisis by retrofitting some of their machines – which use UVC light to disinfect VR headsets between uses – to be donated to hospitals, where they made it possible for healthcare workers to decontaminate and safely reuse their N-95 masks.

Hedrick explains that Cleanbox has since gone on to announce a new machine called CleanDefense, specifically designed to disinfect Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and help healthcare workers deal with the ongoing shortages of these essential supplies.

“The desire to help first responders and other front line workers is personal. Almost everyone in our team has been impacted in some way by this pandemic. As individuals and as a company, we wanted to make a difference and to it quickly,” says Hedrick.

The need for Cleanbox’s original use, however (making it safe for different people to use the same VR headset) is stronger than ever, and will likely become the new industry standard going forward.

There's a large role for XR as the pandemic unfolds and as the world finds its new normal
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In fact, when Morgan was setting up the logistics for delivering Shift’s virtual training, one of the first questions funders asked was how they would make sure the headsets did not spread COVID. Cleanbox, she recalls, was already on their radar, and the two entrepreneurs were introduced via a mutual connection at the WXR fund, which primarily invests in promising XR ventures by female entrepreneurs.

“We needed to create a training where geography is not a barrier, financial issues are not a barrier, time is not a barrier,” Morgan explains. “VR is ideal for preparing healthcare workers for high-risk environments without exposing them to real-world risks. In a normal setting, this training requires healthcare trainers and supplies, both of which are now in short supply. Through VR, people can learn and practice in a realistic environment, with full movement, before having to step into a hospital.”

So far Shift has developed training for the Oculus Quest on the donning and doffing of personal protective equipment, proper hand hygiene, contamination in a COVID-19 ward and hospital setting. The immersive training consists of sessions lasting between 15 and 20 minutes in VR which will be used to teach key skills such as choice and use of PPE, patient personal care and hygiene, and COVID-19 test procedures.

Following feedback from their first beta testing they will be gathering feedback and making updates before running a second, larger test and starting rolling out in Eugene, Crook County, Bend, and Portland. Within the next three to four weeks at 15 sites statewide. Each site will have five headsets and the site staff will be trained on how to properly sanitize the equipment with Cleanbox technology between uses. With locations capable of training multiple people at once, hundreds of people throughout the state should be able to access the curriculum each day.

VR can prepare healthcare workers for high-risk environments without exposure to real-world risks
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Shift’s COO and co-founder Maggie Hubbell adds that in the near term, this will provide a no-barrier solution to help bring the skills needed to people on the front lines. “Long-term, this training will continue to be vital to bring our national systems back into balance.”

“There is a very large role for XR as the pandemic continues to unfold and as the world finds its new normal. In healthcare particularly, the need to utilize VR for things like Fundamental Skills training for those in nursing school, orientation for the onboarding process for nurses into hospitals, as well as device training that cannot now be done face to face,” she concludes.

This article was originally published on VRScout

COVID-19 VR Training With Virus-Free Headsets via @alicebonasio https://t.co/SbKxAyMBGw pic.twitter.com/gUNwtrKFrU

— VRScout (@VRScout) May 27, 2020

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals, and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Virus-Free Virtual Training for Healthcare Workers appeared first on Tech Trends.

In 2020 we are all being tested as to how much misery, uncertainty, and disruption to our lives we can take without cracking open like a pinata! The new Sensate II is “Designed to Soothe Stress, Build Resilience and Fight Everyday Anxieties” so sounds just the ticket right about now.

The new Sensate II is Designed to Soothe Stress, Build Resilience and Fight Everyday Anxieties so sounds like just the ticket right about now!
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Stress and anxiety are growing exponentially in both the [UK / US], with 45 percent of adults in the latter (53% of women and 37% of men) stating that the pandemic has affected their mental health. Despite an abundance of mindfulness apps, and a rise in the popularity of meditation and yoga, effective relaxation is harder than ever to achieve and not something easily mastered in a short time. Millions of people find it difficult if not impossible to disconnect and manage their emotions, and that’s where Sensate helps.

21st-century stress contributes to serious diseases of inflammation such as heart conditions, obesity, cancer sleep problems, and many preventable mental and physical health issues. The updated Sensate II is a palm-sized, pebble-like device that sits on the chest and syncs with a free mobile app. It was initially created by Stefan Chmelik, a pioneering stress management consultant and physician with 30 years experience, to relieve the effects of PTSD for a range of sufferers, including war veterans.

Audible and Subaudible Tones

Audible tones, those heard by human ears, typically have frequencies that fall within a range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. However, human beings are able to feel and detect sound waves that occur below these frequencies. Sound waves with frequencies below the audible range noted above are referred to as infrasounds and ultrasounds. At very low frequencies, sensory cells in the cochlea are stimulated by sounds at levels below those that are heard. Infrasounds and ultrasounds can also be transmitted by way of vibrations or pulsations. The bio-potential effects of low-frequency acoustic waves on humans have significant prospective benefits and therapeutic potentials. Research has shown that “clearly specified wave frequencies and amplitudes such that…the application of low–frequency sound waves with precisely controlled parameters (frequency, acoustic pressure level, exposure time)” can contribute to such significant results as “lowered activation level of the autonomic nervous system) or [a notable] change the morphology of the electrocardiograph pattern.” Studies have shown that infrasonic exposure can also produce such beneficial effects as a decrease in blood pressure.

21st-century stress contributes to serious diseases of inflammation such as heart conditions, obesity, cancer sleep problems, and many preventable mental and physical health issues
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Sensate is designed to use low-frequency infrasound to regulate the nervous system and tone the vagus nerve which is responsible for calming the body after periods of stress and anxiety
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Non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nerve is a new and exciting area for research that is making the benefits of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) accessible without an invasive procedure. At the forefront of this research is the use of ultrasound and infrasound (sub-audible, rhythmic, pulses) that stimulate a neural and physiological downregulation response (i.e. produce a calming effect). Sensate is designed to use low-frequency infrasound to regulate the nervous system and tone the vagus nerve which is responsible for calming the body after periods of stress and anxiety. It can relax our “fight, flight, freeze” emergency response, bringing our body back into balance.

A combination of meticulously composed sounds synchronized with the near-infrasonic rhythmic pulses of the Sensate wearable are tuned to promote immediate relaxation. Sensate claims it can also deliver health benefits more commonly associated with long-term meditation practices, it’s been shown to improve heart rate variability, a key marker for health, in over 80% of users within in-clinic trials.

Users of 1,000 prototype Sensate devices report:

• Feeling instantly relaxed
• Improved deep sleep (tracked with a sleep tracker)
• Lower resting heart rate and heart palpitations
• Improved blood pressure readings
• Better stress management
• Reduced anxiety and depression levels
• Feeling happier
• A profound calming effect
• Improved focus

Sensate has been shown to improve heart rate variability, a key marker for health, in over 80% of users within in-clinic trials
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A revamp of the Sensate I, the Sensate II offers the same physical and psychological benefits, but now with a sleeker, non-slip design, longer battery life, improved connectivity, and more power to improve use. The size of your palm, the Sensate II “pebble” sits on the user’s chest and produces low-frequency infrasound vibrations that resonate through the chest cavity and bone.

The size of your palm, the Sensate II “pebble” sits on the user’s chest and produces low-frequency infrasound vibrations that resonate through the chest cavity and bone
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This creates the same calming effect produced by a cat purring on your chest. These vibrations regulate the nervous system through toning the vagus nerve, the neural superhighway that connects the brain to the gut and is responsible for calming the body after periods of stress and anxiety.

VibroAcoustic Therapy

Olave Skille patented VibroAcoustic (VA) Therapy in the late 1980’s in Norway as a “means of using the energy of musical sound waves applied directly to the body to produce relaxing physiological as well as psychological effects.” Since its inception, studies have proven that the use of the physical sounds of music can be even more effective than other interactive forms of intervention.

How Sensate Maximizes VibroAcoustic Potential

The positive outcomes of clinical vibroacoustic hardware can be miniaturized through the use of microelectronics. Sensate pairs this technology and convenience by utilizing the body’s natural ability to conduct energy through bone conduction. As such, placing Sensate on your sternum allows your body to carry infrasound and audio tones through resonant frequencies and maximize their relaxing impact on your body. Excitingly, this phenomenon is further optimized through the use of a biometric sensor and feedback loop that personalizes the audible and sub-audible frequencies.

Used in conjunction with Sensate’s specially-composed library of soothing soundtracks (ideally played through headphones), users can reap the benefits of a lifetime’s practice of meditation within ten, twenty, or thirty-minute sessions.

Sensate II will cost £299 but is also now available to pre-order from www.getsensate.com for £199 for a limited period
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“Stress and mental health issues are a 21st-century health crisis, with around 300 million people globally suffering from depression and anxiety.” Stefan Chmelik, founder of BioSelf Technology and creator of Sensate, explains, “Human beings have made their chest vibrate and resonate since the first hominids sat in a circle thumping their chests and howling at the moon. Through song, chant, mantra, prayer, oming, breath, meditation and music, we have found ways to stimulate feelings of wellbeing, harmony, and belonging.”

Used in conjunction with Sensate’s specially-composed library of soothing soundtracks users can reap the benefits of a lifetime’s practice of meditation within ten, twenty, or thirty-minute sessions
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Officially launched on May 4th this year, Sensate is being initially funded through an IndieGoGo campaign where, as of publication, it has reached 941% of its target, proving the demand for a product like this in these uncertain times. Backers have 5 days left to pre-purchase a Sensate through IndieGoGo for a heavily discounted price, however it is available for pre-order from www.getsensate.com for £299 with IndieGoGo orders being fulfilled first.

As soon as we get our hands on one Tech Trends will report back with a detailed review, we could sure use a few moments of calm right now!

Tom Atkinson is Reviews & Dep. Editor at Tech Trends. Follow him on Twitter @techtrends_tech

The post Sensate II – Stay Calm in the Covid Crisis appeared first on Tech Trends.