Wearable devices are increasingly bought to track and measure health and sports performance: from the number of steps walked each day to a person's metabolic efficiency, from the quality of brain function to the quantity of oxygen inhaled while asleep. But the truth is we know very little about how well these sensors and machines work - let alone whether they deliver useful information, according to a new review published in Frontiers in Physiology.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing of the first mobile medical application (app) that can be used as a method of contraception to prevent pregnancy. The app, called Natural Cycles, contains an algorithm that calculates the days of the month a woman is likely to be fertile based on daily body temperature readings and menstrual cycle information, a method of contraception called fertility awareness.

Grants4Impact (G4I), a new energizer program launched by Bayer Cares Foundation, is providing targeted support to social impact pioneers and start-ups in the fields of healthcare and nutrition. The aim of the program is to give selected change-makers around the world new opportunities to grow and transform great ideas into powerful impact solutions that help to improve the lives of millions.

Start Alliance Berlin: Digital Health is a two-week program taking place in November 2018 which is intended to help startups from BEIJING, DUBAI, NEW YORK, LONDON, PARIS, SHANGHAI, TEL AVIV, VIENNA and WARSAW to expand their business to Germany via BERLIN. In this edition the program will focus on Digital Health and related topics.

Philanthropist Bill Gates and the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) co-founder Leonard Lauder have announced a new initiative, Diagnostics Accelerator, to develop novel biomarkers for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Cerner has announced the plans to significantly grow its Dublin hub for research and development. Working with the support of the Irish Government through IDA Ireland, will be created 50 new roles focused on R&D and the improvement of data intelligence and population health management for the European clients.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), in partnership with the Data Protection Authorities of Austria, Ireland and Schleswig-Holstein and supported by the Internet Privacy Engineering Network (IPEN), is pleased to announce the launch of the EDPS-IPEN Privacy by Design contest for mobile Health (mHealth) applications.