IEEE spectrumThe most popular biomedical stories of the past year focused on both the introduction of new technologies and the updating of old ones. While artificial intelligence is enjoying great popularity in most sectors, including biomedicine, with applications such as intracerebral warning system for worsening mental health and model for evaluation heart rate in real time – biomedical news last year also focused on legacy technologies. Technology like WiFi, UltrasoundAnd lasers all of them have returned or found new uses in 2025.
Whether innovation comes from new technologies or old ones, IEEE spectrum will continue to cover this topic thoroughly in 2026.
Georgia TechIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and TeraPixel
When Patricio Riva Possepsychiatrist at Emory University School of Medicine, realized that his patient brain implants sent him signals that her depression was worsening even before she realized anything was wrong, he wished he had taken action sooner.
This experience led him and colleagues to develop an “automated alarm system” for signs of changing mental health. The tool monitors brain signals in real time using implants to record electrical impulses, and artificial intelligence to analyze the output signals and identify warning signs of relapse. Other research groups around the world United States are experimenting with different ways to use these stimulating brain implants to treat depression, both with and without AI. “There are so many levers we can pull,” neurosurgeon. Nir Lipsman speaks in article.
Dmitry Kireev/University of Massachusetts Amherst
IN Dmitry Kireev's laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, researchers are developing discreetly subtle graphene tattoos that can control your vital signs and much more. “Electronic tattoos can help people track complex diseases, including cardiovascular, metabolic, immune and neurodegenerative diseases. Almost half American adults may be in the early stages of one or more of these disorders right now, although they don't know it yet,” he wrote in the article for IEEE spectrum.
How does this work? Graphene is a conductive, strong and flexible material, capable of measuring characteristics such as heart rate and the presence of certain compounds in sweat. For now, tattoos need to be connected to a regular electronic circuit, but Kireev hopes that they will soon be integrated into smart watchand are therefore easier to wear.
Erica Cardema/University of California, Santa Cruz
Wi-Fi can do more than just connect you to the Internet—it can help monitor your heart inexpensively and without the need for constant physical contact. The new approach, called Pulse-Fi, uses an artificial intelligence model to analyze heartbeats and estimate heart rate in real time from up to 10 feet away.
system It is low cost (about US$40), easy to deploy and hassle-free. It also works regardless of the user's posture and in all conditions. Katya ObračkaA computer scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the development of Pulse-Fi, says the team plans to commercialize the technology.
older age
Sangeeta S. Chavan And Stavros Skidbiomedical researchers from Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine in New York hypothesized that ultrasonic waves can activate neuronsoffering “a precise and safe way to treat a wide range of both acute and chronic diseases,” as they write in article For Spectrum. Targeted ultrasound can then serve to treat inflammation or diabetesinstead of drugs with a wide range of side effects, they say.
It works by vibrating the neuron's membrane and “opening channels that allow ions to enter the cell, thereby indirectly changing the cell's voltage and causing it to fire,” they write. The authors believe that activating specific neurons could help address the root causes of specific diseases.
Extreme Light Group / University of Glasgow
If a doctor wants to look inside your head, he must decide whether he wants to do it cheaply or deeply: an electroencephalograph is inexpensive, but does not penetrate beyond the outer layers of the brain, while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is expensive, but allows you to see right through. Shining a laser through a person's head seems to be the first step toward a technology that solves both.
For years, such work seemed impossible because the human head is so good at blocking light, but now researchers have proven that lasers can send photons right through. “What was considered impossible, we have proven possible. And, I hope… this can inspire the creation of the next generation of these devices,” the project leader. Jack Radford speaks in article.
Jiawei Ge
In the not-too-distant future, surgical patients may hear “The robot will see you now,” according to the authors of this article. story suggest. Three researchers work in Johns Hopkins University robotics laboratory responsible for development Smart tissue autonomous robot (STAR), which performed the first autonomous soft tissue surgery. operation in a live animal in 2016
Despite the fact that in an effort to ensure autonomous robots into the operating room—for example, developing general-purpose robotic controllers and collecting data under strict privacy regulations—the ultimate goal is just around the corner. “A scenario in which patients are routinely greeted by a surgeon and an autonomous robotic assistant is no longer a distant possibility,” the authors write.
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