Powerful Tool For Understanding Brain Development As you read this sentence, millions of neurons in your brain are frantically w hispering to each other, resulting in communicating signals in unique ways. Understanding how this transmission occurs is crucial to understanding human brain development. Can modern neuroscience go beyond traditional exploration? I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Roman Bauer, one of the collaborators on the The BioDynaMo Modeller was very enthusiastic when talking about computer simulations and neuroscience. Roman Bauer feels that, in order to better understand the dynamics of the human brain we need a platform that encourages a community of users that exchange information. It must incorporate interaction, allow modifications and be extendable where users can easily adapt. Such an approach can be very demanding and his research involves modern computing approaches and IT-related collaboration. ICT-based researc...

There has been some inquiry about the Deep Games Workshops in connection with the Call for Initiatives to Hack Health and Social Care.   For some clarity to everyone, just a brief status update to where we are in the planning. Due to official reasons, the Deep Games workshops scheduled to take place in Geneva at CERN, and in Milan are in the process of being rescheduled for the early part of 2017. The dates, time and venues will be advised shortly. We continue our promise of bridging the gap between mainstream health care and community health care by embracing a collective approach. Just a reminder, if you have a story about receiving or giving care and you think it can be replicated elsewhere, or you have a maker approach in designing DIY health instruments and devices, we want to hear from you. We're always interested in new initiatives.  For other inquiries about the Call or the workshops, reach us at opencare@scimpulse.org For updates on The Call  ...

Art or Science?  They seem like opposites, one driven by data and the other by emotion. Have we bridged art and science? Both are inquisitive with a fearless approach to the unknown.   Susanna Wong, External Collaborator at CERN, SIAE Composer and Art Director of POP Science Poetry Production says , “ Opera needs to be reinvented, because if it does not change, it slowly disappears”.   An opera performance is an extraordinary production using sight, hearing, imagination and sensibility of the audience where all human passions are at work.  This art form needs a fresh perspective joining all the components and blending their expressiveness in a effort to understand, or should I say understand better, the world and how it works.   The multicultural journey Susanna was born in Ecuador, of Chinese origin, a naturalized Italian citizen, living in Geneva. Susanna’s multi-cultural background and natural passion for communication, music,...

Over the past decade with technological advances in ultrasound allowing what was once a large machine to become essentially a hand-held device. With this convenience, of ultraportable ultrasound scanners came the cost of several thousand euros. In the operating room, surgeons can in real time see inside the human body using advanced imaging techniques, but primary care givers, the healthcare professionals in those remote areas who are on the front lines of diagnosing illnesses, haven't had access to the same technology. How could we use technology to improve health care making it low-cost and affordable? Smartphone Ultrasound According to Olivier De Fresnoye, combining the use technology, community and a device that almost everyone has in his/her pocket, they should be able to do just that. Being able to produce a medical image that can then transport to a smartphone or laptop, making it an affordable hand-held echo-stethoscope. It’s a device that every health care provide...

Research shows that being empowered in a debilitating situation has fundamental and beneficial effects on your immune system; enabling one to be more resilient and bounce back from treatments and setbacks better than others facing the same conditions. The initial shock of being diagnosed with Cancer can be mind-numbing. Once a doctor utters the word “cancer,” the rest sounds like a blur. No matter how clearly he or she spells out the truth, the terminology still feels foreign. It’s a language you don’t want to learn. Worried about what happens next or thinking about the impact on your life, along with the many emotions. This is the journey that Denise Sliepen and Carry Hendrix found themselves facing.   Here is a portion of Denise and Carry’s story:  “In 2015, we were diagnosed with different types of cancer. Ever since we were diagnosed until the end of our treatment we were more than convinced our body could fight this and we eventually would win the battle. We were...

OpenCare consortium initiated a Call in June, 2016 to Hack Open the Care System . OpenCare is the promise of bridging the gap between mainstream health care and community health care to embrace a collective approach. The Call is preparing for OpenCare@CERN, November 7-9th, 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland . From movements to makers, by communities, for communities. With the closing of the Call approaching, we will be sharing the promising and innovative entries and their collaborators.  Coming from various backgrounds, all participants share the same vision, one size does not fit all when meeting the health care needs of the people. Millions of people suffer from motor impairment, so why are so few effective devices available? Some inventions never make it to the market and people are offered standard mechanical solutions rather than exploring alternatives, says Rune Thorsen, one of the creators of WeHandU. Rune, together with Alexander Shumsky, decided to explore those alterna...

People Powering Digital Innovation Industries are reforming in creative ways, challenging companies to blend talents, ideas, and technologies in a radical wave of innovation. Everywhere you look, companies are using and creating a supercharged stream of innovation that is creating opportunities. Thriving in this digital era of promise means increasing the speed of innovation and collaboration. The main energy for this is not some magical technology-it’s talented people.  There is a sense that you prosper only when surrounded by a lot of resources that make it possible to succeed. Think of it as your garden, where you need fertile soil, seeds, and other ingredients to make things grow. A successful business evolves rapidly. While innovative businesses needs experimenting and collaboration. They must attract resources of all sorts, partners, suppliers and producers of materials and developers to create a cooperative network.  Virtually every business sector is ...

It’s not news that obesity among children is widespread and continues to be a leading health concern in the United States, and the same is happening in many countries around the world. What may come as a bit of a surprise is that it's even happening in Mediterranean countries, especially among children. Italy famed for its healthy lifestyle and Mediterranean diet, is the second highest next to Greece tackling weight issues and obesity in children. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), warned that the rate of overweight children could be a key issue for Italy in the coming years. New Initiative for Childhood Obesity in Italy While the rest of the world is encouraged to copy the traditional Italian menu by swapping junk food for fruit and vegetables, it seems Italians are forgetting the lessons they taught everyone else. Are traditional home-made meals and snacks losing out to low-cost, calorie-packed fast food, coupled with less physical acti...

In the non-profit sector, social responsibility takes many forms. Transparency in social impact, ethics and communication are key to making a non-profit organization and its projects successful. Building an organization committed to the highest ethical standards demands more than just following the law, it requires fostering practices that create an environment of transparency, accountability and integrity. Mara Manca, humanist at heart, a fellow at the Scimpulse Foundation and researcher on the OpenCare project achieves that with a practical approach. She implements processes to create an atmosphere that is transparent, interactive and creates it in terms that everyone could relate to in their everyday lives. She makes it easy for everyone to see the vision of the project and what they hope to gain, and the risks involved. Transparency and accountability OpenCare is constantly working to ensure ethics and transparency. The challenge, is to keep it as simple and understa...

A new initiative promises help for blind and visually impaired gain more mobility, independence and confidence. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are a quarter billion people in the world with vision impairment. Of those, more than 80 million are completely blind. That is twice the population of Canada. Developing a technology that could sense and reconstruct reality for blind people can be one approach. But, a technology that enables blind and vision impaired to mediate their perception of their environment and interact with their surroundings is actually empowering then to be independent from aid devices. Many blind and partially sighted people of all ages are unable to lead independent lives because they are not getting the support they need. The needs of people who lose their sight are many and varied and the support provided must be personalized if it is to meet individual needs. Teaching the blind to see with hearing using echolocation would ...