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Apple Close To Adding Diabetic Glucose-Tracking To Watches
The Cupertino company has been trialing the technology for a decade, and it now looks like diabetes sufferers will soon be able to monitor glucose using their Apple watch.
The Apple Watch has become a popular health and fitness monitoring tool in recent years, with features including a heart rate monitor, body temperature sensor, blood oxygen monitoring, and women’s health tracking. However, despite a growing feature set, the watch does have one notable omission: blood glucose monitoring.
According to data from the World Health Organization, around 422 million people worldwide have diabetes. Currently, the disease is monitored using a finger-prick test to measure glucose levels or by attaching patches to the skin.
Apple is now reportedly close to adding a non-invasive glucose monitoring solution to its watches after testing various technologies for the best part of a decade. However, it could still be a few years before the device is ready for mass-market application.
If Apple’s monitoring sensors get the green light from medical professionals, its smartwatches could also be used to screen users for pre-diabetic indicators, as well as help long-term sufferers to manage their condition without the pain and inconvenience of skin-prick testing.
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Apple will use a chip-based solution called “silicon photonics” to measure glucose levels, combined with absorption spectroscopy, which measures reflected light to gauge insulin. Although the technology hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed by scientists, the Cupertino company is thought to be deep into the proof-of-concept stage of testing.
Once Apple’s technology has been evaluated by researchers, the company will have to work on reducing the size of the chips, as experts believe that early prototypes are still too large to fit into the compact frame of a smartwatch.
News
UAE Prepares To Launch Two Satellites: Thuraya-2 And MBZ-SAT
HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council yesterday.
HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council in Dubai on December 16, 2024. The session highlighted the UAE’s ambitious space plans and took stock of the sector’s economic progress.
The council emphasized the growing role of private companies in advancing space technologies, noting that their contributions are now equal to that of the public sector. Members also praised initiatives like the Space Economic Zones Programme, which are designed to fuel innovation and investment in the space industry.
خلال ترؤسنا الاجتماع الأول للمجلس الأعلى للفضاء، بحثنا الاستثمارات الوطنية والمشاريع المقبلة في قطاع الفضاء والذي يشهد تطوراً مستمراً… وجددنا التزامنا بدعم ومواصلة تنفيذ برامج طموحة لاستكشاف الفضاء الخارجي حيث وصل حجم الاستثمارات في هذا القطاع إلى 40 مليار درهم خلال السنوات… pic.twitter.com/etJ33OnuSu
— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) December 16, 2024
Discussing the UAE’s space journey, HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum remarked, “The national space sector continues to grow and advance, and we take immense pride in the remarkable achievements we have accomplished over the years”.
Sheikh Hamdan also received updates on two upcoming satellite projects: Thuraya-2 and MBZ-SAT. Thuraya-2, developed by Space42, is slated for launch this December. Meanwhile, the MBZ-SAT, created by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), will soon follow. MBRSC, a major driver of the UAE National Space Programme, continues to lead the nation’s space-related developments.
Space42 took the opportunity to showcase its advancements, including ongoing collaborations between public and private entities. The company also outlined strategies to promote innovation, boost revenue streams, and create new opportunities for growth in the sector.
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The UAE’s current projects build on a growing legacy of space exploration. Back in 2020, the nation made headlines with its Mars mission, successfully sending a probe into the planet’s orbit in 2021. This mission, which is now in its second phase as of June 2024, has been collecting critical data to develop a comprehensive diurnal image of Mars.
The UAE also ventured into lunar exploration with an unmanned mission aimed at studying untouched regions of the Moon’s surface. While the probe ultimately crashed during its landing attempt after communication was lost seconds before touchdown, the effort represented a significant step in the country’s exploration ambitions.