#health-tech

#health-tech

CES 2026 is here. While the official event begins Tuesday, ZDNET's team of experts has already gotten an early look at some of the most exciting tech stories coming out of Las Vegas.

We started as a vaginal pH tracking liner for your panties that would change color with vaginal discharge. It's evolved into a period pad with microfluidic channels that capture blood, and under the pad, there's a window that shows your FSH levels.

Beyond Wearables Right now, AI is on your face and arms-smart glasses and smart watches-but this year will see it proliferate further into products like earbuds, headphones, and smart clothing. Health tech will see an influx of AI features too, as companies aim to use AI to monitor biometric data from wearables like rings and wristbands. Heath sensors will also continue to show up in newer places like toilets, bath mats, and brassieres.

My typical morning starts around 3 a.m. I'm instantly met with Messenger notifications from web developers in California, GitHub pings from Florida, and a running document of research papers to read sent from Michigan. By 7:50 a.m. I'm off to class to live my life as an 18-year-old high school senior in Seoul. This solitary ritual has become my strange normal after I founded an AI research and development startup with people all around the world, whom I've never met in person.

Dorothy Kilroy has seen her company's smart ring on some very famous fingers. Mark Zuckerberg wears one. So does Jack Dorsey. Prince Harry, too. But when Oura's chief commercial officer sat down at Toronto's Elevate conference with this editor last week, she surprised me, saying the company's fastest-growing user segment isn't tech billionaires or wellness-obsessed execs. It's women in their early twenties.

The Jacobs Institute Steering Committee guides the strategic direction of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a cornerstone of Cornell Tech's mission to fuse academic excellence with real-world impact through programs in health tech, urban tech, and connective media, as well as startup incubation, facilitated by the Runway program. These accomplished leaders bring deep expertise in cloud computing, urban development, financial technology, and venture capital - fields that are shaping the future of digital life.

EliseAI Raises $250M in Series E funding New York City-based EliseAI is focused on automating systems in healthcare and housing. For healthcare, it offers a platform that automates conversations with patients over voice, email, text and chat. It also helps schedule appointments with doctors, and sends alerts about billing and payment. Its Series E round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures and Navitas Capital.

"We make really effective products that help couples get pregnant. Sometimes we get them pregnant too fast, which is great for being a human and for helping people. But not so great for business."

The Oura Ring 4 remains the preferred choice for sleep tracking with improved accuracy in temperature, heart rate, and heart rate variability over its predecessor.

The $170 Index Sleep Monitor is a game-changer for Garmin, as it positions the brand to directly compete with major players in health tech like Whoop and Apple.

"Being unemployed is not easy," Cevallos said. When she landed her current job... she felt a mix of relief and disappointment.

The project stemmed from a personal need to alleviate the burdens of clinical documentation, transforming a critical issue in healthcare into a viable solution.

Kouper addresses a major healthcare challenge by fixing broken care transitions, delivering accountability and continuity in patient management.

"It's just a new way of collecting the sample, it's not a new test," Teal Health CEO Kara Egan told Business Insider. "You can actually eliminate cervical cancer in the US, if we actually screen."

Azalea Vision's first closing of its €15M Series A funding round enables the clinical trials of its revolutionary eye care technology, aimed at FDA approval.

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 features a 1.82-inch AMOLED display, Bluetooth calling, and is water-resistant, boasting up to 10 days of battery life.