While the realism in today’s video games might create the impression that electronic characters are alive, a team of researchers at Stanford University has taken it a step further by creating “biotic games” which allow the player to actually interact with living organisms by controlling biological processes. The team has currently developed eight games similar to simple 1980s arcade titles which allow the player to control paramecium. While these biotic games are currently in the proof-of-concept stage, the researchers hope that eventually even people with little or no knowledge about biology will be able to participate in biomedical research just by playing more complex biotic entertainments. In a paper published in Lab on a Chip Stanford investigators mention that they hope to have "significant conceptual and cost-reducing effects on biotechnology and eventually healthcare; enable volunteers to participate in crowd-sourcing to support medical research; and educate society at large to support personal medical decisions and the public discourse on bio-related issues."
From Stanford Report:

The basic design of the games involving paramecia – the single-celled organisms used in countless biology experiments from grade school classes to university research labs – consists of a small fluid chamber within which the paramecia can roam freely. A camera sends live images to a video screen, with the "game board" superimposed on the image of the paramecia. A microprocessor tracks the movements of the paramecia and keeps score.
The player attempts to control the paramecia using a controller that is much like a typical video game controller. In some games, such as PAC-mecium, the player controls the polarity of a mild electrical field applied across the fluid chamber, which influences the direction the paramecia move. In Biotic Pinball, the player injects occasional whiffs of a chemical into the fluid, causing the paramecia to swim one direction or another.

Our fellow bloggers at Engadget got their hands on a pre-release version of Vitality Glowcap and have been trying it out for about a month while keeping a diary of their experiences. They did some creative testing, amongst other things using it as an alarm clock and cheating their way out of taking the medications. Head over to the link below for the full story and the final judgment.
Engadget: Vitality GlowCap review…
Product page: GlowCaps…
Flashbacks: Smarter Pill Bottle Caps; Internet Connected Bottle Caps Help Remember to Take Your Pills; Vitality GlowCaps Soon Easily Available for Purchase

When doctors want to accurately test high-risk patients to determine whether their unborn babies will have Down syndrome, they currently perform karyotyping after an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, procedures that have small chance of causing miscarriage. However, the Los Angeles Times reports that a team of researchers from China and the UK have proved that a much safer test can be effective in detecting trisomy 21. In a procedure similar to one we covered at Medgadget two years ago, the researchers analyzed fetal DNA which they recovered from maternal blood plasma to determine whether the baby would have Down syndrome.
From Los Angeles Times‘ coverage:

Using the new technology, researchers found they could rule out Down syndrome in 98% of cases, sparing the women from further testing. The blood test did not produce false negative results (showing the fetus did not have the disorder when, in fact, the condition was present).
Currently, women in the United States are offered a blood test combined with an ultrasound test — called the combined test — to assess the risk of Down syndrome in pregnancy. The combined test still leaves an estimated 3% to 5% of women in need of invasive testing. The new blood test, which is conducted in the first trimester, could be used after the combined test or even as a first-tier test, said the study authors, from the Institute of Health Sciences in Hong Kong.

Los Angeles Times Coverage: Prenatal blood test for Down syndrome shows high level of accuracy
Full text of the study in the British Medical Journal: Non-invasive prenatal assessment of trisomy 21 by multiplexed maternal plasma DNA sequencing: large scale validity study
Flashback: New Blood Test for Down Syndrome