Optogenetics is one of the most interesting and promising of the new technologies in science and medicine. It involves modifying DNA with genes that make light-sensitive proteins. Modifying neurons in this way makes them react when energized by light. Most experimentation to date has focused on understanding how neural systems work and how they might […]
The Opportunity in Health Data Trackers 02/18/2014
An article in MedCityNews highlights an interesting point regarding wearable health sensors and the data they generate: how do users make sense of all the data they collect? This quote, from Catherine Calarco of Heartmath is telling: “People are still trying to figure out the design and presentation of the data. I’d like to see more user […]
Medical Product Design and Patterns of Use 02/12/2014
Here is an interesting example of use patterns impacting results: The Pecan Research Institute ran a study in which they analyzed electricity generation by solar panels that a) faced south and b) faced west. Most solar panels are mounted to face south because that orientation maximizes the number of hours of sunlight the panels can receive. […]
Barriers to Creativity in the Design of Medical Devices 02/03/2014
Resistance New ideas can be threatening, and they can provoke a negative reaction. There is actually a bias against creativity. Most people will say that they value creativity. And they really believe that they do. But in fact, we harbor a bias against creative solutions in favor of those we perceive as safer and more […]
Creativity in Med Design: Let Your Problem Incubate 01/28/2014
When you exercise your muscles, you don’t see immediate gains in strength. It’s only after you’ve rested that the strength gains occur. Neuronal connections seem to act similarly. When you’re thinking hard about a problem, it’s rare that you’ll have a eureka moment. The insight usually comes only after you’ve let the problem ruminate in […]
Medical Product Development and Randomness 01/22/2014
Why do most people find it hard to be creative? One reason is that we’ve spent our lives learning how to be logical and analytical. To think creatively, you have to stop thinking logically. The emphasis on logic and analysis works well for helping us navigate most of the problems of our day-to-day world. But […]
Ignore “The Rules” to be More Creative in Medical Product Development 01/14/2014
When it comes to creative problem solving, we often assume constraints that aren’t actually there. Here is the iconic creativity problem: Draw four straight lines through the nine dots without retracing and without lifting your pen from the paper. The solution to this problem can only be found by going outside the […]
Non-Invasive Testing Using Sound 01/09/2014
Non-invasive testing is a growing trend in medical device design and development. A new technique that uses sound to detect the presence of malaria has been developed by Drs. Dmitri Lapotko and Ekaterina Lukianova-Hleb and a team of researchers at Rice University What the researchers at Rice have been able to do is to use a […]
Seeing In New Ways to Solve Medical Product Development Problems pt 4: 01/07/2014
In the last post, I presented this maze problem: WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE MAZE FROM POINT A TO POINT B: Here is one solution: Another solution: […]
Seeing In New Ways to Solve Medical Product Development Problems pt. 3 01/02/2014
How we perceive a problem governs our approach to it. The words we use to describe a problem affects how we think about it. WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE MAZE FROM POINT A TO POINT B: (from A Whack on the Side […]
