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That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Editor's Note: This occasional series looks at powerful ideas - some existing, some futuristic - for fueling and electrifying modern life.

The popular Nintendo Wii console offers video games that venture
into the world of exercise, but scientists now are taking it further,
to help doctors heal the body.

The key behind the Wii
is its motion-sensitive wireless controller, the Wii Remote, or the
"Wiimote," with which players control actions on screen. Players can
swing the controller to simulate countless realistic motions, such as
swatting a baseball for a home run. Such technology is becoming
increasingly popular - at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo
(E3), Sony and Microsoft both revealed motion-sensitive game
controllers.

Playing with the Wii could help surgeons in training
improve their fine motor skills and performance in a surgical
simulator. Eight trainees were asked to play the Wii for an hour before
performing virtual laparoscopic surgery with a tool that simulates a
patient's body and tracks the surgeon's movements as he or she operates.

The Wii-playing residents scored 48 percent higher than others
without the warm-up with the Wii, working faster and more accurately.

Although the researchers first relied on off-the-shelf Wii games,
they will soon release a complete surgical training system they
designed for the Wii, where trainees can practice suturing and other
procedures.

"There's really no accurate way to train surgeons in the operating room,
so it's virtually all the on-the-job training, which is very
time-inefficient," explained researcher Mark Smith, an endoscopic
surgeon at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Arizona. "There are
surgery simulators out there, but these are still very expensive. With
the Wii, we have a very easy and inexpensive platform where surgery
residents can learn and develop their skills."

"You can even have the surgeons train at home," added researcher
Kanav Kahol, a biomedical informatician at Arizona State University.
Although the Wii could help surgeons train in virtually any surgical
specialty, the researchers are especially interested in using the
console to teach robotic surgery, where surgeons can use robots for precise, minimally invasive procedures or to help patients at remote locations.

The Wii is also helping patients with Parkinson's disease gain or
maintain their independence with physical activities. Occupational
therapists at Medical College of Georgia are using the console with
patients to help them exercise.

"One of the therapists uses the Wii for timing and loosening up, and
the other uses it for coordination and balance issues," said researcher
Ben Herz. "These therapists are thinking way out of the box. They're
doing activities that will make a difference in these participants'
lives based on what we know about Parkinson's."

Doctors at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical
Center are using the Wii to help scan through an ever-increasing
workload of patient X-ray and MRI images.

Instead of spending hours at a time navigating through pictures
using basic keyboard and mouse clicks, which can lead to repetitive
motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, one cycles through
scans with the Wii by just rotating the wrist.

"The remote is very intuitive," explained George Shih, a radiologist
at Weill Cornell Medical College, who with his colleagues helped
develop the system that links the Wii remote to the diagnostic computer.

At Weill, "Wii-habilitation"
therapists are using the console to help patients with burn injuries.
For such patients, moving and stretching the skin is very painful, but
crucial for a successful recovery.

"If a burn injury is near joints, the healing process makes the skin
tight, so the natural tendency is not to move normally," said Roger
Yurt, chief of burn surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill
Cornell Medical Center. "However, if the patients don't, the joint
itself starts to get stiff, so right from the beginning after a
significant burn injury, patients have to start doing physical therapy."

The researchers have found that Wii games not only help the burn
patients exercise as they need to, but "get their mind off their
disease, accomplish the objectives of the therapy without being routine
and boring and monotonous," said researcher and physical therapist Sam
Yohannan at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"If they're in for multiple surgeries, for an extended period of
time, it gives them a little bit of escape, doing some sort of sport
with scenery that's typically outdoors," Yohannan added. "And it also
improves socialization, and that's a big part of burn rehabilitation
and therapy, to get social support."

Such research, or "Wii-search" as Yohannan said he sometimes calls
it, "is very cutting edge, and there will be a lot more in the future,
to see why and how games can better improve the health of patients.
It's a great and inexpensive technology."

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Original Story: Powerful Ideas: Wii Aids Doctors and Patients
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NEW YORK – Welcome to the 21st century, passengers.

Self-serve ticket kiosks and other electronic screens and gadgets aren’t exactly new at airports around the world, but some travelers are hesitant — maybe a little scared — about using them. They prefer the old-fashioned comfort of face-to-face contact with an agent, even if waiting in line slows them down.

But there are a growing number of ways to cut time and hassle out of a trip to the airport, from new kiosks to boarding passes scanned directly from your cell phone screen. There is, airports insist, no reason to be afraid.

Using electronic methods on your way to the gate can also save you money, as more airlines begin charging for contact with a living, breathing human.

Tania Ladic, a vice president of industry marketing at technology developer NCR’s travel and transportation unit, said there are a number of high-tech travel aids available at nearly every step of your trip that many people may not be aware of. Here are just a few examples:

Checking (And Paying for) Luggage:

Many travelers know they can check in online, or at the airport, using a kiosk. But many don’t know they can check their bags the same way. Simply pay online or at a terminal with your credit card, then drop your bags off at the “Web Bag Drop” counters available through some airlines. Nearly all airlines have a representative that will check your boarding pass, grab your bag and send you on your way.

“Right now there’s a lot of confusion on what to do with checked bags (when you check in electronically),” Ladic said. “Even some of the most savvy travelers don’t know this.”

NCR research says that it takes about one-quarter of the time to check in for a domestic flight with a kiosk instead of a ticket agent.

Upgrades

Want to score a bump up to business class from coach? No sweet talk or bribes required. Most major airlines now offer upgrade opportunities, if they are available, through the Web or an airport kiosk. Payment, as with baggage, is just a swipe away. Another bonus: The kiosk never forgets to let you know when you’re eligible for a promotion to more spacious seating.

Flight Changes

Mechanical problems, weather delays, oversold flights — eventually they all factor into the air travel experiences we won’t soon forget. But all these problems can be made a little less troubling without ever having to wait in line for an agent. Many airlines already offer technology through their Web sites, kiosks or any phone that’s web-enabled that will allow you to pick an alternate flight or cancel a reservation. Ladic said that passengers can even be notified if a delay will cause them to miss a connection so they can reschedule accordingly.

Ladic added that technology is now being developed that will send an e-mail up to several days before a flight that will notify a passenger of bad weather or other potential hold ups. Travel Web sites such as Orbitz.com and some airlines already have similar alert services through text messaging and e-mail if your flight is delayed or canceled.

This is the point at which embracing technology can really help your wallet. Changing a reservation online or through a kiosk after your flight is canceled or delayed is usually free. If you call the airline’s customer service number, you will most likely be charged a fee ranging from $15 to $35 to speak to a live person. Changes for personal reasons generally cost much more, up to $150.

Some airlines are adding incentives to encourage the use of electronic services. In July, US Airways will start charging $5 extra, if you pay their $15 bag fee at the airport instead of online.

But not all carriers encourage online and electronic methods. Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines both charge fees to buy tickets on their Web sites — $4.90 each way for Spirit and $13.50 per passenger at Allegiant.

A Generational Thing?

Ladic said she thinks the gap is narrowing between younger and older folks when it comes to embracing technology. Kiosks and Web sites are designed to be simple and user-friendly, she said, and with a little encouragement from the airlines, everyone from grandma to junior is becoming more tech savvy.

The Next Frontier

Across the board, Ladic predicts that mobile phone scanning technology will be the fastest-growing platform in airport technology as more people switch from traditional paper boarding passes. The technology is now available in several major cities — including New York, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas and Boston — but it may be slow to spread because security personnel must be taught how to read and verify boarding passes on cell phones.

The next big leap on the airport technology front, Ladic predicts, will be touch-screen maps of airports that passengers can personalize and print out with food options, security lines, and gates. Ladic predicts they will appear in major airports in three to six months.

Sorry, there’s still no electronic solution for taking your shoes off to get through security.

Technorati Tags: electronic gadgets

Technorati Tags: electronic gadgets