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PEVEI t1_j9mgnl3 wrote

Reply to comment by NeurodivergentPie in Apple reportedly made a big breakthrough on a secret non-invasive blood glucose monitor project that originally was part of a 'fake' startup by dakiki

While I tend to despise this argument, since it's often used to justify wank and sophistry, it is worth remembering that the history of physicists declaring something impossible is checkered at best. Proving a negative is just... really hard to do, but certainly the burden on anyone claiming a breakthrough in this area has to prove they've done something revolutionary... is very high.

tl;dr I share your doubts, but lets remember that even extremely unlikely ideas like FTL could someday be viable. It's unlikely for a list of reasons, but not 100% impossible.

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NeurodivergentPie t1_j9n094l wrote

I’d love for it to be figured out. I’ve been working on for a long time as a side project. I just am not convinced it’s going to happen in my life time. Would be awesome though.

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KhonMan t1_j9ncjzo wrote

You mean TL;DR: Science is a liar sometimes.

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arcosapphire t1_j9n29vf wrote

> it is worth remembering that the history of physicists declaring something impossible is checkered at best.

Is it? How many things were declared impossible by physicists? To my knowledge, traveling faster than C and reversing entropy...and those are standing strong.

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NeurodivergentPie t1_j9neid6 wrote

I did not say it’s impossible. I said they’d need to overcome our current understanding of Beer’s Law. And since the article mentioned it is using “optical absorption spectroscopy” this is a relevant assumption. Smart watches only have a basic set of LEDSs, a few photo detectors and possibly some ability to detect changes in electrical impedance….well that’s just not enough to overcome the calibration issue. A lot of people a lot smarter than I am have been working on this question for a long time, so, much like the issue with continuous noninvasive blood pressure, our current tools are not adequate. If they have solved it, great. I look forward to knowing more.

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Druggedhippo t1_j9nssnw wrote

Not disagreeing since I know nothing about this topic, but there is a link in the article goes to this article which contains a bit more info

> Apple is taking a different approach, using a chip technology known as silicon photonics and a measurement process called optical absorption spectroscopy. The system uses lasers to emit specific wavelengths of light into an area below the skin where there is interstitial fluid — substances that leak out of capillaries — that can be absorbed by glucose. The light is then reflected back to the sensor in a way that indicates the concentration of glucose. An algorithm then determines a person’s blood glucose level.

...

> The company believes the technology is viable but needs to be shrunk down to a more practical size.... Engineers are working to develop a prototype device about the size of an iPhone that can be strapped to a person’s bicep. That would be a significant reduction from an early version of the system that sat atop a table.

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NeurodivergentPie t1_j9nwknq wrote

Ahhh yes, the second article does have more details and seems more plausible. Much less exciting than the initial headline though of course lol. I will reserve judgment until more information is available but thank you for posting the next link, how innovative this is remains to be seen as similar approaches are already deployed in the field.

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