The Future of Health: Monitoring Stats with your Bathroom Mirror

MIT researchers have developed system that continuously monitors pulse rate by using a simple webcam.

Graduate student Ming-Zher Poh is currently working on upgrading the system to measure respiration, blood-oxygen levels and blood pressure.

The system measures variations in brightness produced by the flow of blood through blood vessels in the face. Facial recognition software is used to identify the position of the face in the image, and then the digital information from this area is broken down into the separate red, green and blue portions of the video image.

The system’s pulse rate accuracy is within about three beats per minute. In addition, the system can monitor up to three people simultaneously.

The goal is to incorporate the system into bathroom mirrors so patients can monitor their healthy routinely. The health stats would be displayed in the corner of the mirror.

The findings are published in the journal Optics Express.

Show Your iPhone Some Heart

A new Apple patent could one day enable your heartbeat to unlock your iPhone, according to Gizmodo. The phone would take the idea of biometric security to another level by using an embedded heart rate monitor to identify you. 

Forget fingerprint scanners, vein-recognition technology and even software that compares people's nose shapes.  The heart rate monitor could use your heart rhythm or even EKG patterns to verify your identity. Now, that's personal security.