Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created what they are calling a “magic mirror”. It shows you your muscular activity in real time so you can visually see how hard your muscles are working while you exercise. The system can currently monitor the activity of 30% of the body’s 300-some skeletal muscles.

Sadly the user has to wear all of those little balls etc, to get the readings. At the moment it’s a medical device, so it won’t be showing up at the gym anytime soon or on Wii-Fit. But one day soon you’ll be using your mirror as an actual health device. Not just a surface for your popped zit juice.

Philips’ Intelligent Pill is basically a robotic capsule that can handle a bunch of advanced medical functions wile inside of you. For one thing, knowing it’s location in your body. It’s capable of measuring acidity and temperature in the stomach, figures out it’s position and knows whether or not it should release medicine in that spot. The device uses a microprocessor, wireless radio and battery, along with a pump and deposit for the drugs.

The idea is that since it can deliver drugs in the exact spot needed, less drugs are required and that means fewer side effects. According to researchers, the prototype is ready for mass production. And your stomach. Let’s hope it’s not smart enough to lay nano-eggs in you and reproduce.

In the future all beasts of burden will have solar powered backs so that they can better serve man. Look how well it’s working out for the camel. The solar cells power a small refrigerator, which allows them to deliver heat-sensitive vaccines to remote health centers in Africa.

It’s an ingenious solution to getting them from point A to point B intact. When refrigeration isn’t needed, the solar system even provides lighting at the clinic. It’s win/win. Despite being in the desert, the sun doesn’t always shine and for those times they have a foot-powered generator.