A medical data-sharing program saved at least $2 million and gave doctors crucial insight about a pregnant woman's complications.

A new study has found that a medical-information exchange system that is considered a model for health-care reform efforts saved significant amounts of money and led to better care for patients—including a woman who probably would have died without the system.

Ford uses wireless technology to connect a car's dashboard to medical devices and health-monitoring apps.

Your car may soon be able to warn you if your blood sugar dips, alert you to high pollen counts, and remind you to take your medication. Ford demonstrated the new in-car technology—currently a research project—this week at the Wireless Health 2011 conference in La Jolla, California.

Many carmakers see a big opportunity in adding new functionality to the computers built into many models. Some cars already use Internet connectivity to alert drivers to traffic tie-ups.

Scientists corrected a genetic error in stem cells from patients with liver disease, and implanted those cells in the livers of mice.

A new study demonstrates how patient-derived stem cells might one day be used to treat genetic diseases. Scientists from Cambridge, England, corrected a genetic error in stem cells derived from patients with a liver disease, and then differentiated them into liver cells. When injected into the livers of mice, the cells integrated into the organ and started functioning normally.

Researcher says "it's like getting continuous tweets from the cells rather than an occasional postcard."

A new prototype petri dish can create an image of what's growing on it and send that information to a laptop, all from inside an incubator. The prototype, dubbed the ePetri, was created from Lego blocks and a cell-phone image sensor, and uses light from a Google Android smart phone.

"Normally, one leaves the cells in an incubator and just checks up on them from time to time," says Michael Elowitz, a professor of biology at Caltech, who coauthored the paper.

A sheath of carbon nanotubes or conductive polymer improves the charge-storage capacity of electrodes.

A simple trick could improve the ability of advanced ultracapacitors, or supercapacitors, to store charge. The technique, developed by Stanford University researchers, could enable the use of new types of nanostructured electrode materials that store more energy.

While ultracapacitors provide quick bursts of power and can be recharged many more times than batteries without losing their storage capacity, they can store only a tenth as much energy as batteries, which limits their applications.

Alternative approaches replace the battery with compressed air or a flywheel.

Hybrid cars normally combine conventional engines with battery-powered electric motors. But many carmakers are developing alternative types of hybrids—some of which were on display this month at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany.

Hybrid systems recover kinetic energy—from the engine or from the vehicle itself—and use it to boost the efficiency of the engine. A typical hybrid car does this by charging up a battery.

A study gives a first demonstration that brain-machine interfaces can include touch feedback.

Brain-machine interfaces have made it possible for monkeys and some humans to control robotic limbs using just their thoughts. But ideally, a person using an artificial limb or other device would not only be able to control the device, but also feel what it's touching.

A new study from the lab of Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center takes a first step toward such an interface.

By creating animals with chromosomal abnormalities, they hope to learn more about how the disorders develop.

Family studies suggest a strong genetic component to autism and schizophrenia, but the disorders are thought to arise during early development, making it difficult to study the underlying genetics.

Now researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York have created mice with chromosomal abnormalities that mirror those seen in humans with these disorders, which should make it easier to study the role of genetics in the development of the brain.

Boston Power's move reflects China's willingness to provide incentives for companies in strategic industries.

Many in the U.S. have an interest in getting clean-tech ventures off the ground. Among them are the government, capital markets, industry, and science labs. But China seems ready to do more on every front to make such projects happen, and to do it right now—without red tape or concern about economic turmoil.

Leading-edge battery maker Boston Power appears to have come to that conclusion. The company is set to move to China, where the government is helping to cut the firm a $125-million deal that no one else is likely to match.

Wearable sensors collect data from athletes as they're playing—data that could soon be broadcast during the game.

Statistics in sports is about to hit a whole new level. A new generation of wearable monitors that measure heart rate, electrical activity in the heart, lung capacity, metabolism, and other metrics is allowing scientists to study athletes' physiology as they play.

The data has obvious potential to enhance players' health, and to help trainers tailor workouts, but device makers and the sports industry seem most excited about the prospects for entertainment. They are already working on ways to display the data during games, in stadiums and on television, giving fans unprecedented insight into players.