Special focus: health technologies

The over-50s support website Mabels.org.uk has developed a new search engine, AskMabels.co.uk, which is designed with 50+ surfers in mind and tailored to search preferences suited more towards the mature audience.

£2.7 billion spent so far on the UK’s electronic care record systems does ‘not represent value for money’, according to the National Audit Office.

Cities with high levels of ICT maturity better manage issues such as environmental management, infrastructure, public security, healthcare, and education.

Mechanical engineering students are using the sun to power an autoclave that sterilises medical instruments, helping solve a long-standing health issue for developing countries.

Radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant damaged by the Japan earthquake pose a health risk, officials warn.

Toxicologists are urging food manufacturers to consider new packaging methods after discovering possible health risks from recycled cardboard.

Researchers say they have found a connection between mobile phone use and increased brain activity.

Computer security experts from Edinburgh Napier University, Microsoft, and HoIP CIC have been awarded a £2m grant from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), along with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to help enhance patient privacy and care.

Partners In Health (PIH), The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and reggae band Steel Pulse have announced the release of the song “Hold On [4 Haiti]”.

Study shows no association between living near a mobile phone basestation during pregnancy and early childhood cancers.

Research that studied almost 13,000 mobile phone users for 10 years to find out whether mobiles cause brain cancer has not produced a definitive answer.

An international study of the long-term health effects of mobile phone use will run for decades,.

Remote monitoring of the health of American hearts could help generate $1.9bn of mobile revenue by 2014.

Pressure from global recession and relentlessly rising costs of chronic disease will force healthcare systems across the world to become more patient-focused, a report on the industry said on Tuesday.

The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published a report about the UK struggling to translate its research base in bioengineering.

The current UK government plans to set up a ‘leadership group’ headed by ministers as part of its strategy for nanotechnology and fund research into its safety, with a collaboration group formed to put consumer groups in touch with academia and industry.

The impacts of climate change on health are a "very real and present danger", Health Secretary Andy Burnham has warned at the launch of a new report on how rising temperatures will affect the public.

Promoting “work engagement“ can improve both employees’ health and their work performance, according to research by Norwegian organisational psychologists.

Medical devices are to play a larger part in the UK government’s strategy for healthcare as part of the Office of Life Science Blueprint for the National Health Service (NHS).

Digital healthcare researchers have linked up with specialists in 3D printing to use rapid prototyping technology to produce highly accurate anatomical models for use in medicine.

A research facility to analyse how the health of citizens is affected by the environment in which they live and work has opened at Imperial College London and King’s College London. The Centre for Environment and Health will look at how factors such as traffic fumes and aircraft noise impact human well-being.

A new medical 'fit note' to replace the current 'sick note' has been revealed with the intention of trying to keep more people in work

The cross-Government group responsible for nanotechnologies has outlined a number of pledges to ensure the responsible development of the field.

Some of the UK’s top designers and manufacturers have been selected to redesign furniture and equipment for NHS hospitals to help in the fight against MRSA and other healthcare associated infections (HCAI’s).

The use of mobile devices is making it difficult to secure patient records.

United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership has been named winner of the Information Technology category in the 2008 IET Innovation Awards. The partners’ Mobile health (Mhealth) for development programme uses wireless technology to improve public health in developing countries.