The World Health Organization (WHO) is now one step closer to achieving their goal of eliminating malaria by 2040. Last week WHO announced that one of several potential malaria vaccines in development has made it through a crucial phase in trials and is now ready to be field tested. https://futurism.com/worlds-first-malaria-vaccine-will-be-given-to-thousands-of-babies-in-africa/

A medical venture firm based in Japan, has teamed up with a University Hospital to create what could very well be the future of medical simulations: a 3D printed robot. This life-like robot is equipped with special sensors that allow it to give real-time feedback to trainees as well as score their practice. http://www.3ders.org//articles/20170412-realistic-mikoto-3d-printed-medical-training-robot-developed-in-tottori-japan.html

Ashurst held a boardroom lunch on Wednesday 5 April and the winning ?idea from Idea Spies was the Spinach leaf as a beating heart tissue-http://www.ideaspies.com/post/need-blood-vessels-for-new-hearts-try-spinach/

Aged Care Report Card, the TripAdvisor styled system for the aged care industry www.agedcarereportcard.com.au ACRC's site was developed in response to the hundreds of seniors, family carers and health professionals we surveyed to better understand the needs of our ageing community. People simply need more information than what is readily available online. Families in particular are overwhelmed by so much information and at the end of the day relied heavily on the word-of-mouth of their friends or people in their community.

The Sydney-based startup Elanation has developed an Internet of Things IoT platform for children 8-12 that integrates with the virtual world to encourage outdoor play. The first product Elanation marketed was the Eturbo Sports Wristband, a smart wearable that measures steps, distance, heart rate, and has a touchscreen. The "cool factor" is that it connects to a virtual world. Every step in the real world translates into a virtual game advancement-10,000 steps a day unlocks video content from sporting athletes across Australia, teaching the child new sporting tips and tricks. www.elanation.com

A step forward in ways to replace damaged or diseased human organs is by 3-D printing new organs. Successful trials are promising. Yet, a huge challenge is to create a vascular system to provide blood supply to those organ tissues. In the case of heart replacement, spinach might be the answer. The structure of spinach leaves may offer the answer as a viable blood vessel "plumbing" system. Check out the research at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/human-heart-spinach-leaf-medicine-science.