Solutions

The World Health Organisation has called for "drastic action" to fight the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, as it announced an 11-nation meeting to address the growing crisis.

Image:  Harvard's Wyss Institute - Turning shrimp shells into plastic: Harvard's Wyss Institute comes up with fully degradable bioplastic.

news.harvard.edu - May 5th, 2014

For many people, “plastic” is a one-word analog for environmental disaster. It is made from precious petroleum, after all, and once discarded in landfills and oceans, it takes centuries to degrade.

Then came apparent salvation: “bioplastics,” durable substances made from renewable cellulose, a plant-based polysaccharide.

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Image: The UAV Map, which will go live shortly, is inspired by Travel by Drone Map displayed above.

irevolution.net - June 18th, 2014 - Patrick Meier

Journalists and citizen journalists are already using small UAVs during disasters. And some are also posting their aerial videos online: Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), Moore Tornado, Arkansas Tornado and recent floods in Florida, for example. Like social media, this new medium—user-generated (aerial) content—can be used by humanitarian organizations to augment their damage assessments and situational awareness.

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The new pacemaker, the micra transcatheter pacing system. Photograph: University Hospital Southampton/PA

Wireless device, used for the first time at Southampton general hospital, set to reduce risks linked to traditional pacemakers

theguardian.com - June 9, 2014

A pacemaker the size of a tablet has been fitted inside the heart of a British patient, in a new operation that promises to reduce infection risk and reduce recovery time.

The wireless device used – for the first time in the country – at Southampton general hospital, known as the micra transcatheter pacing system, is the smallest in the world, at a tenth of the size of traditional models, and is implanted directly in the heart.

Currently pacemakers are inserted under the skin via an incision in the chest and connected to the heart via a lead that carries electrical signals to correct slow or irregular heartbeats, but they can require replacement due to broken or dislodged wires.

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