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An asthma inhaler equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) capability

An asthma inhaler equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) capability could allow researchers to track when and where asthma attacks occur—and reveal previously unknown environmental triggers and "hot spots." David Van Sickle, a medical anthropologist and epidemiologist who's currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, worked with the university's biomedical engineering department to develop a prototype that receives and transmits GPS signals even as it delivers medication. A pilot study, designed to evaluate the device's accuracy and reliability and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is ongoing.