NIH Technology Breakthroughs

Featured Articles

About 2 million people in the United States are living with an amputation, with lower-limb amputations being the most common.
March 14, 2023

How a prosthetic ankle improves balance control

When someone loses a leg or other limb, a prosthetic device (a tool designed to replace a missing part of...

Limb Loss
A researcher measures water samples from a stream.
January 24, 2023

The future of water

What are PFAS? Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the...

Environmental Health

By collecting data from thousands of pregnant people, NIH researchers hope to paint a clearer picture of what a healthy pregnancy looks like.
July 11, 2022

PregSource: Using input from pregnant people to uncover the secrets of pregnancy

What is PregSource?  PregSource®: Crowdsourcing to Understand Pregnancy is a research project that collects data about pregnancy from the...

Pregnancy
When To Test Calculator for Individuals calculates your estimated risk of having COVID-19 and spreading it to others.
February 24, 2022

New decision-support tool for COVID-19 testing can help you get back to your life, safely

Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s still so much uncertainty about how to live with this virus. We have...

COVID-19, COVID-19 Testing

Brain images of a woman with an inherited condition that causes early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
May 21, 2020

Could one woman help researchers find a cure for Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, which contributes to a decline in memory, thinking, and social...

Alzheimer's Disease
Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., studies how technology can improve health. She and her team developed a low-cost, portable fiber optic microscope that allows doctors to easily test for cervical cancer.
May 20, 2020

How a tablet computer and mobile van are improving cancer detection

Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., of Rice University, has devoted her career to understanding how technology can improve health and save...

Diagnostic Imaging

Karen Pierce, Ph.D., plays with a toddler referred to her program by a local pediatrician.
May 06, 2020

Eye tracking technology holds promise for earlier autism diagnosis

What if you could diagnose autism just by looking at how a child's eyes move? While the technology is...

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Sensory prosthetics could give users a better sense of touch and help make everyday tasks easier.
April 23, 2020

5 breakthrough technologies your tax dollars are funding

A 15-second, painless mammogram. A laser-powered blood sugar monitor. These are just some of the many breakthrough technologies supported by...

Medical Technology

February 13, 2019

8 NIH research highlights

What did we learn in 2018 that could help your health this year or in the future? NIH-supported researchers worked on a...

NIH Research
Researchers at NIH and around the country are working to improve prosthetic limbs for patients.
July 12, 2018

Bringing prosthetic hands to life

NIH is improving prosthetic, or artificial, limbs so that they can work better and feel more natural to patients. Using...

NIH Highlights