The Medical Mirror takes your pulse by analyzing your face

MIT

Inventor: Ming Zher Poh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student

What is it? Did you know you could measure your heart rate through your face? If you did, you're probably a graduate student at MIT. Poh's mirror, using a web cam behind the glass, measures the amount of light your face is reflecting and uses it to calculate your heartbeat.

Why it's important: We'll be able to track our heart health on our own, without a visit to a doctor and tons of sticky electrodes or sensors (which are painful for burn victims and the infirm). The mirror will hopefully be able to tell us our respiratory rate and blood-oxygen saturation levels as well.