Firstly, appologies to people whom i have deleted from my friend list on facebook. I am not sure why having too many friends in one account (i.e. exceeding 500) will subsequently delay the loading time and / or perhaps not allowing you to load the main page at all. Appologies! Anyway, facebook support suggest me to reduce the number of friends and re-add them again. Weird! I even have some friends who have their account exceeding 1000 friends, and facebook just work fine for them. Anyeay, I re-added some of my friends and if I still have not added anyone, please add me again: tlhung@hotmail.co.uk. Thank you :)

Okay, this is extremely important, especially to parents who loves beating their kids. There was this research, explaining that the children's IQ of age 2 to 4 who regularly receive spanking from their parents, dropped significantly over the next 4 years, compared to kids who were not spanked. Another recent brain-imaging study found that children who received regular punishment had less brain grey (neurons) compared with other kids. This means that different constrain factors such as stress, anxiety, or fear will affect the development of brain development. So, do not beat your children. There are many ways of teaching them to behave well, rather than spanking :)


Caption: termal monitor, similar shape to capsule camera in the 1990's

It seems that the world is evolving significantly. I recalled watching a documentary in 1990's, showing the evolution of technology in surgery in the coming decade (now). Scientists are utilising the fusion of technologies, between sciences and enginnering, turning technologies in a more significant shape. They merged a cctv into a capsule to monitor our internal body. It travels through the throat, all the way to the digestive tract, providing sufficient capture for surgeons to analyse. The capsule will be digested, and finally extracted from our body. However, the price is too costly for most patients to use in surgery.


Caption: camera capsule

It was pretty impressive that the capsule theory was re-used again. This capsule will swim from our mouth, all the way through the digestive tract. In fact, the machine was designed to mainly explore the human digestive system.


Caption: spring camera (or monitor)

The next new development is a machine designed similar to the look of a robotic spring, creeping along our digestive tract. According to the research, this robot carries a camera and has the ability to provide alternative and traditional endoscopy. The machine developed by CRIM Lab in Italy (company website: HERE) was believed to be able to examine essential body parts, including the internal gullet, stomach and duodenum (mainly for damage or ulcers).


Caption: range diagnosis

I think with this technology, patients health could probably be more secure when they were able to communicate with their GP in a long distant (but the range is not specified). This means the doctor could look after their patient through this camera and screen. But, whats the difference between a webcam and this machine then? This robot is connected to stethoscopes, otoscopes and ultrasound scanners, providing sufficient help to both the doctor and patient.


Caption: human machine

You might have watched some movies, saying that this lady has problem carrying her husband to the hospital. I think this is how they get the idea, and building up this special human machine. The name of this robot is RI-MAN, developed at the RIKEN Bio-Mimetic Control Research Center in Nagoya, Japan. This robot is special because it could lift anyone of all weight, specifically with the intention of taking over the tasks human carers do for the elderly or infirm. A part from soft and providing safe exterior, this machine has touch sensors on both its arms and torso that will allow it to carefully life and carry a person within the hospital.


Caption: prostate machine

I think this machine was designed to assist surgeons to handle accurately, with minimal effort in removing prostate. Prostate is referred to an enlarged organ in male human (or any other mamals), situated near to the penis, which produces a liquid that mixes with and carries sperm. Prostate is dangerous, mainly when it has successfully turned into the prostate cancer. With this machine, the surgeons only need to measure the size of the prostate while this machine will cut it automatically.


Caption: resembling robot

This machine was intended to carry surgical procedures inside our body. A person can swallow 15 of these resembling robots. When they swallow these robots one by one (up to 15) into their body, the robot will detect and travel to the site in our body, then assemble together to form a larger device, and perform internal operation.


Caption: blood sucking device

This machine was developed by two PhD students dealing cybernatic sculptors in the Imperial College, UK. It was designed to collect blood samples.

I believe all the above inventions are still a prototype now. I also suspect that they are going to produce the real machine similar to these prototypes in the near future.