Top 10 Strangest "Medical" Devices

10 Foil Hat:

No, it’s not a Reynold’s Wrap rendition of a WWII German soldier helmet. The Olympic Cool-Cap actually prevents and reduces brain damage in infants born with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), “a potentially fatal injury to the brain caused by low levels of oxygen,” by working with a system to maintain “a steady fl ow of water at a selected cool temperature through a cap covering the infant’s head.”

9 Endobeads:

Turn patients’ arteries into the ultimate marbleworks with these microscopic medical beads, currently in Canadian animal studies. Magnetically pushed through the bloodstream via MRI machines, they can be used to view artery interiors, pass medications, and more. See how they work.

8 Migraine Zapper:

Painkillers and triptans be damned. Now, zap, zap, zap away migraines before they start, with the radar gun-like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device. TMS delivers an electrical charge when held to the back of the head, meant to interrupt the aura phase of a migraine before it leads to a headache.

7 Hourglass Night Light:

For those high-class patients suffering from nyctophobia, not to mention those high energy bills resulting from typical night light use, designer Sun-Young Lee has created a night light that only stays lit while sand runs through; plus it looks really cool.

6 Menstrual Spittoon:

Why use a tampon or a pad when you can use GladRags’ (nice company name!) new, reusable Moon Cup. The Moon Cup, unlike its disposable competitors, catches and holds 1oz. of menstrual flow, to then be emptied (several times a day), rinsed, and used again and again for up to 10 years; according to GladRags, that’s $800 in savings!

5 Snoring Implants:

Actually a pretty ingenious idea, but strange nonetheless, the Pillar Implant from Restore Medical consists of three short rods (less than an inch long) inserted into the soft palette to stiffen the tissue and to keep

it from vibrating and leading to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

4 MummyWrap:

Pregnant women concerned their unborn baby could be affected by electromagnetic fields fear not. New Zealander Neil Bullock has developed the MummyWrap—“a sleeveless, loose-fitting garment for pregnant women made from a light-weight copper-based cotton fabric known as Swiss Shield”—to protect fetuses from mummy’s cell phone.

3 Wormbots:

Traditional robotic locomotion isn’t suited for the gut. Paddle worms use tiny paddles on their body segments to push through slippery environments. Solution: the wormbot, created by European scientists, who plan to add

cameras to the device that can stop or slow down at points of interest. Check out the video.

2 iBreast:

If aesthetic and psychological improvements aren’t enough, offer your patients the mp3 player that will always be closest to their heart. BT Laboratories analyst/ “futurologist” Ian Pearson says flexible plastic electronics can be incorporated into breast implants, and the technology BT is developing could play audio, and use A2DP Bluetooth to monitor heart murmurs, blood pressure, diabetes, or breast cancer.

1 Muu Socia 3.0:

For those physicians with poor bedside manner, this social mediator helps facilitate conversation through voice recognition, voice synthesis, speech recognition, and facial recognition. What patient wouldn’t feel most comfortable opening up to a one-eyed raindrop?