Italian Research: Asthma-Sniffing “Noses” and Biotech Vaginas

As I’ve been perusing the Italian news sites for things to post on the Italy Logue, I’ve found that Italian scientists come up with some pretty amazing things. There are pretty regular stories about advances in medical technology or breakthrough transplants being performed. I’ve grown kind of blase about them, I’m afraid, but a couple in the news recently did catch my eye.

First of all, an Italian researcher working in the Netherlands has created an “electronic nose” with which he can detect asthma in people. Now, this thing isn’t really a “nose,” it’s a machine that analyzes the particles on a breathing mask to see whether the person who emitted the breath is asthmatic or not. It’s very cool and could help detect all kinds of lung diseases, but it isn’t intended to look like the body part in its name.

The biotech vagina, on the other hand, is supposed to be exactly like the body part in its name. The biotech vagina was developed in Italy for a couple of patients who, for bizarre medical reasons I don’t even pretend to understand, didn’t have their natural vaginas. With the biotech vagina, they were helped to grow the real thing “using stem cells taken from their own bodies.” Again, this is an amazing bit of news for anyone who suffers from the maladies which clearly afflicted these two women. But am I the only one who thinks it’s just a matter of time before the sex toy industry gets hold of this technology?