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Smart shoe keeps you on your toes 30 July 2008 NewScientist.com news service FALLS are the leading cause of accidental death in people over 65. Now technology developed for astronauts could help to monitor those at greatest risk. When astronauts return home after months in zero gravity, they have their balance tested. A sensor tracks their changing centre of mass as the floor and walls of the box they are standing in slide and tilt. A version of the software used in this system has now been developed to fit inside a shoe. Erez Lieberman of Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues created an insole containing sensors that detect pressure changes when the wearer's foot moves. The data is passed to a control box outside the shoe, before being sent wirelessly to a computer that could report balance problems to a doctor. From issue 2666 of New Scientist magazine, 30 July 2008, page 23 Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn