Welcome back to Healthy Innovations! 👋

In this issue of Healthy Innovations, we are taking a look at some of the best health tech solutions that were presented at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month.

From smart scales that predict cardiovascular risk to menstrual pads that track hormones, this year's innovations are making preventive care as routine as brushing your teeth.

Let’s dive in!

The world's largest consumer electronics show wrapped up earlier this month in Las Vegas, and the healthcare enthusiasts gathered around bathroom scales, earbuds, and even a tech-enabled sippy cup.

According to those on the ground, what made CES 2026 different wasn't the ambition of the technology on display. It was the practicality.

Companies arrived with devices that had real clinical validation, were already in regulatory pipelines, and were designed for everyday use. No vaporware or "available in 2030" asterisks. The message was clear: the clinic is coming home, and it's fitting in your bathroom cabinet.

Like last year, Withings drew attention with its high-tech scales. The Body Scan 2 is a $600 smart scale marketed as "the world's first science-backed longevity station." That's a bold claim for something you step on in your pajamas, but the specs are genuinely impressive. The device measures more than 60 biomarkers in 90 seconds - including risk markers that previously required lab work or specialized clinical equipment.

The most notable addition is a hypertension risk notification without a blood pressure cuff. Using an AI model trained on arterial stiffness and pulse wave velocity data, the scale can flag elevated cardiovascular risk while you stand barefoot on its glass surface. It also tracks cardiac pumping efficiency through impedance cardiography and monitors cellular health through bioimpedance spectroscopy.

Eric Carreel, Founder and President of Withings, has described the connected scale as "the most powerful place to reinvent preventive health," noting that it's the only moment where people naturally engage their whole body.

The hypertension risk notification features are pending FDA clearance, with the scale expected to launch later in 2026. Whether consumers will embrace a $600 bathroom device remains to be seen, but the technology represents a meaningful shift toward flagging chronic disease risk years before symptoms appear.

Perhaps the most ambitious announcement came from Samsung, which unveiled its Brain Health feature designed to flag early signs of cognitive decline through data already collected by Galaxy smartphones and wearables. The system analyzes "digital biomarkers": subtle changes in voice patterns, gait, and sleep architecture that research suggests may appear years before clinical symptoms. Your phone is already tracking your steps. Now it might track your neurons too.

The feature establishes a personal baseline for each user, then watches for deviations that correlate with early cognitive impairment. If the system detects concerning patterns, it is expected to suggest preventive measures and brain-training programs, with the ability to alert designated caregivers. For the millions of families touched by Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, early warning could mean years of additional quality time.

Samsung emphasized that Brain Health is a wellness feature, not a diagnostic tool. The company has completed in-house development and is conducting clinical validation with medical institutions, though rollout timing has yet to be confirmed.

For years, exoskeletons at CES felt like science fiction cosplay. Impressive to look at, impractical to own. This year felt different.

Several models drew attention for modular designs that let users swap between hip and knee support configurations depending on their activity. Lightweight consumer-focused exoskeletons, some folding small enough for a gym bag, are targeting aging populations who want to remain mobile.

German Bionic presented Exia, a cloud-connected exoskeleton that uses AI to adapt support in real time. The company also unveiled vest designs specifically engineered for female physiology, acknowledging that industrial exoskeletons have historically been designed around male bodies.

The broader trend: exoskeletons are fragmenting into distinct categories for medical, industrial, and consumer use. This specialization suggests the technology is finally maturing from research curiosity to practical tool.

Vivoo's FlowPad earned the most raised eyebrows at CES, and not just because it's a menstrual pad with embedded diagnostic technology. The device uses microfluidic channels to analyze menstrual blood for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), a key indicator of fertility, ovarian health, and perimenopause transitions.

Users can read results directly on the pad through a test window, or scan it with the Vivoo app for deeper analysis. Vivoo has positioned affordability as central to its mission, with per-pad costs expected around $4-5 to keep monthly cycle expenses under $30.

According to the company, future versions are planned to expand beyond FSH to include estrogen metabolites, cortisol, inflammation markers, and iron levels. FlowPad will launch with early access for researchers before broader availability later this year.

The Australian company Earflo won Best of Innovation in Digital Health for novel a sippy cup that treats ear infections in children.

The device targets negative middle ear pressure, a condition that leads to fluid accumulation and chronic infections in young children. Left untreated, it often results in ear tube surgery, the most common pediatric surgery in the United States, performed on more than half a million children annually. Any parent who has watched their toddler suffer through recurrent ear infections knows the frustration.

Earflo works by delivering a precisely controlled puff of air through the nose while a child drinks, encouraging the eustachian tube to open and release trapped fluid. It sounds almost too simple, but clinical trials showed the device improved hearing and helped nearly 90% of children avoid surgery.

Developed through Stanford Biodesign and protected by two patent families, Earflo is FDA 510(k) pending. The device was also named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2025. This just shows that sometimes the most meaningful healthcare innovations look nothing like what we expect.

French startup Naox Technologies showcased both clinical and consumer versions of in-ear EEG technology that could bring brain activity monitoring into everyday life.

The NAOX Link, which recently received FDA 510(k) clearance, is designed for medical use, enabling long-term sleep monitoring and neurological research in home settings rather than clinical labs. The consumer-focused NAOX Wave is positioned as a wellness device (not FDA-cleared) targeting applications like focus and stress tracking.

Industry observers have compared the current state of consumer EEG to where heart rate sensing was before fitness wearables took off. Naox is also licensing its technology to audio manufacturers, meaning brain monitoring could eventually appear in earbuds from established brands.

CES 2026 marked a turning point.

The healthcare devices on display weren't concept prototypes. They were real products at various stages of regulatory review and clinical validation, with realistic price points. Some are already cleared (Naox Link), others are pending (Earflo, Withings' hypertension features), and others are positioned as wellness tools undergoing validation (Samsung Brain Health). But all of them could be in consumers' hands within the year.

The common thread connecting a $600 smart scale, a $5 menstrual pad, and a sippy cup for toddlers is a fundamental shift in philosophy. Rather than asking consumers to adopt new behaviors, these companies are embedding clinical-grade monitoring into objects people already use. The best health tech, it turns out, is the kind you forget you're using.

Early detection of hypertension, cognitive decline, fertility issues, and childhood ear conditions could reduce downstream costs and improve outcomes. But only if the data these devices generate actually makes its way to clinicians who can act on it.

The real test comes when healthcare providers decide whether to integrate bathroom scales and wireless earbuds into the clinical workflow, or keep them at arm's length from serious medicine.

The technology is ready. The question is whether the healthcare system is.

🌎 AI closes health gaps. Cancer survival rates vary dramatically between countries. Researchers fed health data from 185 nations into a machine learning model to identify the specific factors driving outcomes in each location. In Brazil, universal health coverage mattered most. In other countries, radiotherapy access or GDP per capita led the way. The tool now gives policymakers country-specific roadmaps for closing survival gaps - turning data into action.

🧬 Off-the-shelf cells fight brain cancer. Glioblastoma moves fast, but manufacturing personalized cell therapies can't keep up. Chinese researchers tested a workaround: donor CAR-T cells edited with CRISPR to avoid immune rejection, delivered directly via spinal tap. In five patients with recurrent brain tumors, the cells persisted between monthly doses and shrank tumors without systemic side effects. The approach sidesteps the weeks-long wait for custom therapies and opens a path for off-the-shelf treatments against one of oncology's toughest opponents.

💊 Your brain on happy pills. Machine learning may soon predict which antidepressant will actually work for you - no more trial and error. Stanford researchers trained AI models on brain scans from patients taking sertraline, escitalopram, or a placebo, and found distinct patterns that forecast treatment response. The system can even separate real drug effects from placebo effects, a major confounding factor in depression trials. This could finally help match patients to the right medication from day one.

🗣️ Speak softly, hear everything. University of Cambridge researchers created Revoice, a washable choker that helps stroke patients communicate without brain implants. The device captures throat vibrations and heart rate, then uses AI to transform mouthed words into complete sentences. In trials with dysarthria patients, it achieved just 2.9% sentence error rate. The system even reads emotional cues - turning "We go hospital" into a full, contextually aware request based on time and stress levels.

📆 Structured is a daily planner app that helps you organize tasks, events, and routines in a simple timeline format. The paid version includes AI functionality - just tell it everything you want to accomplish that day (finish a report, walk the dog, call the dentist), and it arranges everything without conflicts. It even notes the energy each task requires to help you balance your day effectively.

I've been using Structured for over a year, and it fills the gap between my calendar and to-do list perfectly. It's a great option if you want to start time blocking in 2026.

💇 Hair-raising research. For decades, scientists assumed hair gets pushed out of your scalp like toothpaste from a tube. Turns out they were completely wrong. Researchers using 3D live imaging discovered hair is actually pulled upward by surrounding tissue acting like a tiny motor.

When scientists blocked cell division in hair follicles, growth barely slowed. But when they disrupted the proteins that let cells contract and move? Hair growth dropped by more than 80 percent. The secret lies in a hidden choreography: cells in the outer root sheath spiral downward while generating an upward pulling force.

This mechanical revelation could transform how we treat hair loss - targeting physics, not just chemistry.

Thank you for reading the Healthy Innovations newsletter!

Keep an eye out for next week’s issue, where I will highlight the healthcare innovations you need to know about.

Have a great week!

Alison ✨

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