The “Quantified Self”: How Sensors Can Allow You to Understand Yourself

[This article is written by our Guest Editor Dr. Wenzhe Zhou, Co-founder of Brainpage, which is a big data processing & analysis start-up, focused on cloud-based engine for time series data and sensors. The company’s Hadoop-based service provides developers and industry partners easy-to-use, scalable and flexible database and analysis solutions.]

Like nerve endings which translate senses such as touch, smell, heat, etc. into electrical impulses in your nervous system, sensors can translate the physical world into the digital; and help humans become more aware of ourselves in the process. “Quantified Self” is to use algorithms to correlate all these sensor data, and provide valuable information for better living. In our earlier article “Internet of Things: Not Just a Fund Raising Concept Now”, we talked about Sensor technology as one of the fundamental drives for the development of IoT. Key factors for sensor technology adoption depend on the maturity of the technology, cost, and most importantly, experience. Innovative application of existing sensors is also an important factor in the scaling of the industry. In this article, we will introduce a few interesting life science sensor technologies and their “Quantified Self” applications. Some of them are still in research Labs, while others are ready to go for the market.

The Science of Breathing

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