Portable cure
The revolution in microelectronics that created cellular phones and palmtop computers now allows doctors to take their healing equipments out of the hospital and on to the road. A US-based firm Nonin has developed fully functional electro cardiogram machines, no bigger than a box of chocolates, pocket-sized blood-sample analysers and portable ultrasound machines that fit in a car's dickey. Also, the us Food & Drug Administration recently approved a paperback-size automatic defibrillator that can quickly shock a stopped heart back into normal rhythm.