A virtual reality game designed to help patients cope with the pain. [source article here]

I’ve been battling a cold and like lots of people I know, Airborne is in my arsenal.

What I find a bit interesting is the product’s marketing messaging.  Its primary marketing message is that it was “Created by a second grade school teacher.”

I get that a school teacher is exposed to many germs, but why would you trust your health to a second grade school teacher?

Wouldn’t you think it would inspire more confidence if it was created by phd medical health researchers?

Yet, Airborne has been extremely successful and generates several hundred million a year in revenue. Goes to show that having an independent, distinctive brand can trump the experts.

This was one of the best demos at Health 2.0

Check out the demo simulator here.

They can get sick when they eat something that doesn’t agree with their system, but rarely do dogs catch a cold. Perhaps they have some type of immunity gene that can be identified, to provide immunity to humans?

If your health records are online, they can theoretically be accessed by any hospital anywhere in the world, which could save your life, if you’re traveling and have a health emergency.  My view is that the privacy concern will eventually be eradicated, in much the same way people are no longer extremely concerned about online payments and banking, as they were in the early days of the internet, which I know first hand by spending a summer researching online banking and online bill pay features for QuickBooks in 1995.

Check out the book here. 

Check out this decontamination point at the Maun airport in Botswana. Imagine in the future airport screenings for biological agents, as well as for viruses like SARS and bird flu, to contain epidemics, and reduce the threat of bio-terror.

performing operations robotically, to intervene in the “golden hour,” while transporting the wounded. 

this is cool!

This for me was the highlight of the Health 2.0 conference.

video link here

Food analysis (ie the labels on food products at the grocery store) is currently an expensive and labor intensive process.  However, Philips has submitted a patent application for a portable food and beverage analyzer (lab on a chip technology), so you could potentially know the makeup  of food in bars and restaurants.  [patent application here.]