The sound of the dentist's drill could one day be swapped for the sweet sounds of your favourite musician.
A group of researchers at King's College in London have created a gadget that cancels out the sound of the drill and can be hooked up to an MP3 player and headphones.
The
gadget uses technology that allows the person in the dentist's chair to be able to hear what the dentist is saying while the music is going.
"Many people are put off going to the dentist because of anxiety associated with the noise of the dentist's drill," says Professor Brian Millar.
"This device has the potential to make fear of the drill a thing of the past."
Now if only there were a gadget that could do away with the drill altogether.
Very happy New Year for flat-out Twitter fans
Twitter was always going to have a busy New Year, but it wasn't clear just how busy until the clock struck midnight in Tokyo.
Those behind the scenes of Twitter could see a rise in activity as different time zones had their "Happy New Year" moment.
But none were as big as the moment Japan celebrated.
Those tweeting "Akemashite omedetou gazaimasu" saw Twitter's global traffic boosted to a record of 6939 tweets a second.
"Just four seconds after midnight in Japan on January 1, Twitterers set an all-time record in the number of tweets sent each second," Twitter says in a blog.
Twitter says that in Japan, with a population of more than 127 million, mobile networks have been known to crash under the strain of this collective cheer.
"This year, on New Years Eve, many people turned to Twitter to celebrate."
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the sickest of all?
In the war against nasty bugs, a Japanese firm has unveiled a mirror that tells the person looking into it if they look sick.
The Thermo Mirror measures the skin temperature of the person looking into it and displays in on the surface.
If you have a fever it will beep, alerting those monitoring it.
The firm foresees it being used at schools, hospitals and medical centres and hopes to sell 5000 in one year.
Got any news, gadgets or queries? Contact lindsay.harvey@apn.co.nz
