The next stethoscope is here.

When I was in fourth grade, my father, a cardiologist, helped me design a science fair project that used his ultrasound probe to look at goldfish in Dixie cups. As a medical student, I borrowed the machine to look at my own bladder, kidneys, and heart. And in my practice as an emergency physician the ultrasound machine has allowed me to make important decisions at the bedside. Does this elderly person have low blood pressure because of insufficient blood volume, or a failing heart? Does this swollen area on the skin conceal a pus pocket? Is this fetus still alive? "It's the stethoscope of the future," as my father has been telling me since I was eight. (And as with the stethoscope, it has taken quite a while to catch on. Some of my colleagues consider themselves well enough off without it.)

I love ultrasound for the freedom it gives me to peer safely into the body at a moment's notice. But like any piece of shared equipment in a workplace, half the time you can't find the damn thing, or the last person forgot to clean it off, or there's barely any space at the bedside to wheel it into. Now there's a pocket version, called the Signos, at a price--4 grand--a doctor can actually afford. I haven't played with it (and have no relationship with the company). But I'm excited about the prospect of a pocket ultrasound becoming part of the standard toolkit, not just in developed-country EDs that can easily afford them, but also as an alternative to more expensive equipment for clinicians in poor countries. A recent unbiased review in an emergency medicine magazine waxed ecstatic about the Signos. I can't wait to try it.