A patient sits at the Ronald Reagan Ucla Medical Center, in front of a computer. He holds a pen, but it’s not any pen. He does not write on paper. It leaves no visible signs. He writes in the voidbut every movement of the hand is transformed into neurological data.
That pen is the result of the work of a bioengineer team of the University of California. It has been printed in 3D, does not need batteries or power supply, and contains an innovation that could radically change the way in which the Parkinson’s disease It is diagnosed, especially in countries where access to specialist care is limited.
How does it work? Instead of traditional ink, the pen uses a ironfluida liquid suspension of tiny magnetic particles. The tip, made with Neodimio particles In a flexible silicone body, it deforms when it is pressed or moved, generating alterations in the magnetic field. These variations create electrical impulses that tell much more than a simple handwriting.
The most fascinating thing about this technology is that. Spirals, waves, letters traced in the air or on paper: every gesture, every involuntary tremor, every uncertainty is captured and transformed into an electrical signal.
It is the principle of the so -called magnetaelastic effect: the union between movement and magnetism that generates an electrical response. And this is precisely what allows artificial intelligence to “read” the body, without the need to see the person, without images, without invasive biometric data. Only the movement of the hand.
Second Gary ChenPhD student and first author of the study published on Nature Chemical Engineeringthis pen that reveal the beginning of the disease. It is a silent revolution, yet very powerful.
The tests were conducted on 16 people, including 3 Parkinson’s patients. Participants were asked to draw waves, spirals and write the letters megpen. They did it both on paper and in the air. The signs collected have been processed by different machines learning models. The co -face neural network (CNN) has reached aaccuracy of 96.22% in distinguishing healthy subjects from those with Parkinson’s.
Scripture therefore becomes A window on the braincapable of revealing motor dysfunctions even before they become evident to the naked eye. And all this with a pen that does not write, but records.
Diagnosis at home, low cost, respect for privacy
To hit, in addition to the ingenuity, is the accessibility of this tool. It does not need batteries, it does not require expensive medical tests or the intervention of specialists. It can be made easily, at low cost, with material resistant materials, heat and intensive use. The signals remain stable even after beyond 10,000 writing cycles.
And above all, protects the privacy: no video, no personal data, no face. Only hand movements. A potential turn in countries where neurologists are missing (in some areas of the world, they are just there 0.03 specialists per 100,000 inhabitantsaccording to WHO).
Becky jonesspokesman for Parkinson’s UK, he enthusiastically welcomed the study:
It is still early and the sample is limited, but this is a new way to diagnose Parkinson’s observing writing, which often changes already in the initial stages of the disease.
Of course, there are still limits. The authors recognize that The champion is smallthat all patients had evident motor symptoms in the dominant hand, and which remains to be understood if the pen works even in the presence of similar disorders or less marked symptoms. In addition, it will be necessary to deepen the linguistic differences, laterality and use in different contexts.
But the vision for the future is clear: Penne capable of memorizing the data, connected via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, capable of monitoring the evolution of the disease over time, or the effectiveness of therapies. All this, with a small, simple, but full of potential object, as Gary Chen said in Spectrum Iee:
We still have a lot to do, but we believe it is a truly promising technology.
With a world population suffering from Parkinson’s destined for double by 2050accessible, intelligent and non -invasive tools like this pen could become An indispensable resource for global health.
Because sometimes, to understand what happens in the brain, just observe A simple hand that writes in the air.
