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Abbott received the European CE Mark and is introducing its Confirm Rx Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM). Still sporting St. Jude Medical’s logo, now part of Abbott, the Confirm Rx features wireless Bluetooth connectivity to a paired app on the patient’s smartphone. This allows for transmission of cardiac event data to the patient’s cardiologist from just about anywhere there is cellular connectivity.

Unlike other similar devices, you don’t need a separate transmitter, like the Merlin system that has typically been employed, taking up space near the bed. And you can freely travel without having to bring another dedicated device.

Cardiac monitors such as these are used to detect heart arrhythmias in order to help identify their causes and triggers. Patients have them implanted under the skin in a procedure that takes only a few minutes, and then go about their usual days while being continuously monitored, with data uploading to a central hub on a regular basis.

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A pressure sensor printed directly on a hand is a step toward new biomedical devices, “on the fly” wearable technology, and more…

(Inside Science) — Wearable technology may soon be at your fingertips — literally. Researchers have developed a pressure sensor that can be 3D printed directly on your hand. The device, sensitive enough to feel a beating pulse, is made from soft, stretchy silicone that conforms to the curves of your fingertip.

It’s a step toward a more seamless integration of human and machine, said Michael McAlpine, a materials scientist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. His team didn’t print the device on a real hand yet — just an artificial one. “But,” he said, “it sets the stage for future work in 3D printing electronic devices directly on the body.”

Someday, that could mean technology evocative of the cyborgs and bionic humans of science fiction. In the nearer term, 3D printed gadgets on and in the body could aid medical treatment, health monitoring and surgery.

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The US government has rolled out a plan to reshape airport security around facial recognition, playing off a wealth of passport photos and visa applications.

Led by Customs and Border Protection, the plan is built around the Biometric Exit program, which will register visitors leaving the US using facial recognition. But new statements show that CBP’s plans could make facial scans necessary for US citizens as well, documenting them when they reenter the country or pass through TSA checkpoints. The result would eventually grow into an airport-wide system Customs officials call “The Biometric Pathway.”

John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner at CBP, laid out that vision at the ConnectID conference last week. “We’re going to build this for [Biometric] Exit. We’re out of time, we have to,” Wagner told the crowd. “But why not make this available to everyone? Why not look to drive the innovation across the entire airport experience?”

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Self-driving cars could soon be hitting the streets of the Big Apple, thanks to a new law that allows firms to apply to run trials there.

New York joins a growing list of states that are accepting applications for autonomous vehicle trials.

Cars will not allowed to be completely driverless yet, with a human driver in place to step in in case of emergency.

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Future of farming? Driverless tractors and drones attempt to grow crops without humans setting foot on the land in a world first…

Drones are also being used to monitor the crops so agronomists don’t have to enter the field to carry out their observations.

The team from the Harper Adams University in Shropshire believe their research will revolutionise farming and free up the time of farmers.

Johnathan Gill, Kit Franklin and Martin Abell are using small-scale machinery that is already available on the market including a 38bhp Iseki TLE 3400 compact tractor and adapting these in the university’s engineering labs.

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A critical article on my work by The Rouser with some mangled facts in it for effect. But still worth reading: https://rousernews.com/2017/05/08/why-zoltan-istvan-isnt-a-true-libertarian/ #libertarian #transhumanism

Zoltan Istvan is a journalist and blogger who strongly supports transhumanism, a concept that promotes the idea that humans can utilize the advancement of technology in order to live forever. His rise to stardom began after writing a controversial sci-fi novel called The Transhumanist Wager, but he is also well known due to some of his rather outlandish statements. In 2016, Istvan ran as an independent candidate for president with very little support. He is now running for California governor as a libertarian, and though he is promising a libertarian platform, some of his ideals and scientific views seem to promote another worldview. This could be because he lacks experience of either a scientific or political background.

While transhumanism promotes the idea that humans can advance technology to eventually live forever, it also suggests that this goal will be achieved without any ethical consequences.

Its proponents believe that humans will take this next step through robots, which will require a rewriting of ethical codes for the new species. Most transhumanists also avoid mentioning the ethical problems of making civilization hackable or the potential of a technological enslavement. Unfortunately, some people, like Istvan, are actually going into politics based off of this transhumanist mindset.

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