RFID chips to someday help with pain

Matt Burns

Matt is a Senior Editor at TechCrunch. Matt Burns is a family man first and attempts to be a writer second. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, only cars eclipse his love of gadgets. He previously wrote for Engadget and EngadgetHD before moving into the party house that is TechCrunch. He learned the retail side of... → Learn More

Friday, May 15th, 2009

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Someday in the future, presumably before flying cars and floating cities, there might be tiny implants to help manage pain. These RFID-powered chips the size of rice should help with chronic pain and neurological disorders similar to the large, external packs being used right now. Unlike the current crop however, these would be wirelessly powered and controlled via a computer or PDA, which should normalize life a bit for the patient. 

 

The system works by sending jolts of electricty to the affected area that should hopefully nutralize the pain. Successful testing has already been done on rats, but us humans are a bit larger and more complex. The wireless power aspect apparently needs to mature a bit more before it will be effective in a full size person.

Still, one day, pill heads will just have to hack a computer to get their fix rather than scaming aging parents out of their meds. Onward to the future!

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