MIT wants to help you listen to your stomach.
No, it won't project the grumbles you get before your lunch break. Instead, this team of scientists has created a "FitBit for your stomach" to monitor your gastrointestinal system, lead researcher Canan Dagdeviren tells Stat.
These so-called "conformable decoders" are packaged inside a pill and swallowed by a patient, Stat reports. The pill dissolves, and an embedded device latches to the stomach lining. It can then start transmitting messages, revealing how your stomach behaves when you're stressed, eating, or sleeping.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The device powers itself on heartbeats and other organ movements using a form of electrical energy Pierre Curie first discovered in the 1800s. And since it conforms to the stomach wall, the decoder can likely stay in the body indefinitely, Dagdeviren told Stat. Eventually, it could be used to diagnose gastrointestinal issues.
Watch a video explaining the device below, and read more about it at Stat. Kathryn Krawczyk
-
The Taliban wages war on high-speed internetTHE EXPLAINER A new push to cut nationwide access to the digital world is taking Afghanistan back to the isolationist extremes of decades past
-
The US and Colombia renew their feud over the drug warIn the Spotlight The US has accused Colombia of failing in its drug-fighting efforts
-
‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
