biomedical sensors

1. Only seen in make belief world but I will not dismiss it as impossible in real life.

2. Yes

Cheers,

ethobil

Sheesh. I can't believe you engineers are so ignorant of technology... sorry not meaning to be offensive but... while you're out to lunch would you mind walking my dog?

1. Implantable biometric sensors have been on the go for decades. Even in a backwater like Newfoundland, since 1994:

http://www.med.mun.ca/getdoc/63c80fda-b320-4a0e-b2d3-09d1ab62ff10/BVV_Telemetry.aspx

yes, it's about mice, but really there's no difference. It can be implanted inside the human body. (Whether it may be, under law, is a different matter)

2. .. without damaging the cells. I don't have the data on this, but there must have been studies, and the relative risk must have been assessed as small, or stimulator tech wouldn't be commercial and FDA approved (admittedly, for desperate cases on "compassionate" basis). RF damage potential of sensors should be minimal compared with implanted stimulators, which are a "growth sector" industry. "DBS", "VNS", SCS" and others. all RF wireless implants sending current to the nervous system, which you can find out about on google easily enough. Sensor systems would involve less RF, if anything. And of course sensor-integrated is the way of the future, as in patents involving major industry players like Advanced Bionics.

Are available? Well, ya, the big problem is, there is a bit of a shortfall of human volunteers to test this stuff on. Wanna get a sensor? According to the FDA, a load of commercially intended tech is languishing on the shelves since there are no consenting volunteers. "Innovation or Stagnation" - see "Negotiating the Critical Path". "In the case of medical devices, current capacity for technological innovation has outstripped the ability to assess performance in patients, resulting in prolonged delays between design and use. For very innovative and unproven technologies, the probability of an individual product's success is highly uncertain, and risks are perceived as extremely high. Whole fields may stagnate as a result of the failure of early products."

Here's one from 2006: a patient not only with a sensor to monitor from miles away, but also a wireless defibrillator, in case he needs it. Shocking? Maybe. But not exactly star wars, then.