With State Patty’s day approaching, I thought that a technology that may protect against getting dangerously intoxicated would be appropriate. A student at MIT recently created a new ice cube, called Cheers, that has several interesting features. First of all, it lights up and beats to the music, adding to that ambiance of the party. More importantly, the ice cube changes colors as the drinker becomes increasingly intoxicated, using an accelerometer to determine when the user takes a drink, and using a timer to calculate how drunk the user is. The ice cubes turn red when they determine that the user has drank an unsafe quantity of alcohol, and if the drinker continues to consume alcohol, the ice cubes actually text a close friend, letting them know that the user is dangerously drunk.
Cheers ice cubes
The next interesting technology that I have found in the past week is called the AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System. As you are probably aware, obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. The AspireAssist is attempting to combat this epidemic head on by inserting a silicon rubber tube in a persons body, connecting the stomach with port on the outside of the body. The port can be opened or closed, allowing the user to empty a portion of their meal from their stomach into a toilet. This process only takes five to ten minutes, and it removes thirty percent of the food consumed by the user, allowing the user to still obtain a safe amount of calories.
The final futuristic technology that I’ve found is called Displair. Displair, a touch screen projected on thin air, seems like it’s straight from a sci-fi movie. This amazing piece of technology projects a screen on a stream of cold fog, and uses an infrared camera to capture gestures.
Just a few amazing things that can be done with Displair
All of these are incredible. The ice cube is so cool, although I wonder at what point someone who is drunk will just take the cube out of their drink if they want to keep drinking without people stopping them (not exactly intelligent, but probably what would happen).
I’ve heard of the AspireAssist before– it’s gross! When I first read about it I actually didn’t believe that it was real. I assumed that it was a tabloid headline or something. I just can’t understand people who would rather have invasive surgery to insert a tube into their stomach rather than just eating a little less. I also can’t imagine that it’s as perfectly safe as they think it is. Your body secretes hormones as food passes through the digestive system, informing the small intestine which digestive enzymes to secrete in order to break up the food that is in that particular meal. If food is pumped directly from the stomach, I wonder if there will be any long term effects on the small intestine.
Wow. I really think the ice cube idea is really cool. It is a practical device that can obviously save lives. It is crazy what technology can accomplish these days.