The Life Fair
11 June 2016 - 7 January 2017
2. Health
Your health is our concern. We can tax your weight or offer you a bigger seat. We make sure only the healthy get through the border. You can predict your disease, monitor your health and perfect your habits. As well as consult a fortune teller. A healthy population is what we wish, we will heal you at any cost. Any cost we like.
2.1 PALM READING
Find out about your future love, health and fortune
Palm Reading
Palm reading is the art or practice of supposedly predicting a person's future by examining the palm of his or her hand. Palm reading and fortune telling services normally boom against the backdrop of a recession, perhaps as growing numbers of people seek both recreation, and reassurance that a brighter future awaits them.
2.2 FAT TAX
Taxing saturated fat to promote healthy eating
Danish Ministry of Taxation
In 2011 The Danish government tested a new policy imposing a ¬2.15 tax per kilo of saturated fat in all foods containing more than 2.3 percent of fat. Although, according to the New York Times, the tax resulted in an additional $216 million in revenue, retailers complained that the inflated prices drove consumers over the border to Germany and Sweden. The Fat Tax was dropped by the government in 2012. Similar policies are being adopted or discussed in several countries including England and Japan. Politicians in Puerto Rico are considering the possibility of fining the parents of over-weight children.
2.3 BARIATRIC FURNITURE
Designed for the larger individual
Kusch+Co
Kusch+Co is a German company producing seating to meet the needs of larger individuals.
Discussions about the fact that bariatric seating should be made mandatory in public space, offices and waiting rooms have been going on in Europe and USA. However, a clear legislation about this issue does not exist yet. Some airline companies, for example, keep on requiring over-weight and bigger customers to pay for extra seats. The Canadian courts have forced airlines to accommodate passengers with excess weight by offering a second seat at no additional charge, considering this necessity a human right.
2.4 SIMULATION SUIT
Experience what it is like to age
It Fits
GERT Age Simulation Suit GERT Age Simulation Suit helps individuals feel and understand all the physical impediments and hassles that an older person may face daily.
2.5 ELECTRIC SHOCKER
Train your brain to stop liking bad habits
Pavlok
Pavlok is a wristband that helps you quit your bad habits such as smoking or biting your nails, by giving you electric shocks whenever you find yourself craving or actually doing the behaviour you want to get rid of.
2.6 SMART NUTRITION
Counts calories so you don't have to
Michael Grothaus
Situ Situ is the simple food scale that weighs your food in calories and total nutrients, as well as in grams and ounces. Situ gives users calorie and nutrition content of what they are about to eat.
Situ sends its data to the app which tells users the calorie and nutritional content of that handful of snacks, how much salt is in that exact chunk of cheese, or the amount of sugar in that piece of bread. It does this for complete meals cooked at home, and even those bought in. Situ helps users learn, allowing them to act on the information it reveals.
2.7 QUANTIFIED SELF
Measuring all aspects of daily life
Peter Joosten
Project leven Peter Joosten experiments all sorts of diets, physical activities and technologies that promise to optimise your body and life quality. On his blog he regularly reports what he did and what effects it had on him, including the way he measured quantitative and qualitative data.
The tDCS-kit offers a drug free do-it-yourself method to increase concentration as well as relief for depression, anxiety and migraines. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of neurostimulation which uses constant, low current delivered to the brain area of interest via electrodes on the scalp.
Training Mask increases the efficiency of workouts, enabling users to cut the amount of time spent in training by as much as two-thirds. The mask increases lunch capacity and oxygen efficiency, amongst other benefits.
Polar M400 is a waterproof GPS running watch and daily fitness tracker. It can help you plan optimal training, break your records, and even find your way back from a run.
The Xiaomi Mi Band enables users to monitor their activity levels, track walking distance and calculate calories burned. The band syncs with its app to analyse the user's fitness and sleep activities.
Nike+ Sensor fits under the sock liner of Nike+ ready shoes and syncs with a Nike+ SportWatch GPS, iPhone 3GS/4, or other Nike+ tracking device. The sensor measures pace, distance, time elapsed, and calories burned, and transmits wirelessly to the device for real-time feedback.
Accu-Measure Body Fat Caliper enables users to measure their body fat and determine body percentage.
Mabis SmartRead Automatic Digital Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor features a WHO indicator, enabling instant comparison to the standards set by the World Health Organisation.
2.8 COLOUR INDICATION
Personalised health monitoring system
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King with the 2009 University of Cambride iGEM team
E. chromi, The Scatalog The Scatalog is a fictional personalised disease monitoring system that works from the inside out. E. chromi (E. coli bacteria genetically engineered to secrete coloured pigments) drunk as a yoghurt would colonise the gut, designed to sense chemical markers of diseases. If the bacteria detected a disease, they would produce an easy-to-read warning signal by brightly colouring your feces.
The Scatalog was an outcome of a collaboration between designers and student scientists in the field of synthetic biology in 2009. They explored implications of the real pigment-producing bacteria the students were designing (which they named E. chromi), over the coming century. They imagined different agendas -- not all desirable-- that could shape the use of E. chromi and in turn, our everyday lives. The Scatalog briefcase was made as a tool for discussion within the field. Since 2009, the critical fiction became an ambition in synthetic biology.
2.9 THERAPEUTIC ROBOT
The benefits of animal therapy
Robyn Robotics AB
JustoCat JustoCat is a cat-looking robot designed to be used by elderly people with dementia and their caregivers. It is as big and heavy as a real cat and behaves in many aspects like a real cat when interacting with it by gently stroking it on the back. But it is a perfectly hygienic durable robot that can therefore be used in dementia care, both in private and nursing homes as well as day care centres. Based on medical evidence, tests show that it has a calming effect which in turn can lead to the reduction of medication.
2.10 FOOD FRAGRANCES
Promote appetite naturally
Ode Ode is a new product to help older adults living with dementia and Alzheimer's. Releasing authentic food fragrances into living spaces before mealtimes, ode promotes appetite and helps in situations of weight loss. With different fragrances at breakfast, lunch and dinner, ode creates a sensory connection with mealtimes.