Prevention and Rehabilitation Through Age-Tech

Business leaders and US President Joe Biden gathered in Phoenix Arizona on Tuesday for the construction of a major semiconductor plant.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company or TSMC is set to begin production at the facility from 2024.

The Taiwan-based firm is the world's largest and most critical contractor for the chips.

Major US players in the industry including Apple are expected to procure the facility's products.

We work with TSMC to manufacture the chips that help power our products all over the world.

TSMC also announced plans to open a second facility nearby in 2026.

Analysts say this will allow the US to produce enough chips to meet its demand.

TSMC is investing $40 billion here in Arizona - the largest foreign investment in the history of this state.

Apple had to buy all the advanced chips from overseas.

Now they're going to bring more of their supply chain here, home.

It can be a gamechanger.

The massive investment comes as the Biden administration moves to boost domestic chip production.

Supply chain disruptions during the pandemic left shortages of microchips across industries.

In August, President inked a bill that unlocks hundreds of billions of dollars of private sector semiconductor investment in the US.

Washington is also moving to squeeze technological development in China.

In October, the Commerce Department announced sweeping export controls meant to limit Beijing's ability to purchase and produce certain high-end chips.

The US is also pressuring its allies to follow suit, including the Netherlands and Japan.

Officials may want to keep top chipmaking equipment manufacturers like Dutch ASML and Japanese Tokyo Electron from selling certain machines to China.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been making an all-out push for self-reliance.

China currently depends on foreign firms to supply a large portion of its chips.

The government now hopes to meet 70 percent of this demand with domestic suppliers by 2025.

Education, science and technology, and human resources are the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country.

We are accelerating efforts to cement our self-reliance and strength in these areas.

But the author of a new book titled 'Chip War' notes China's ambition could be thwarted by US efforts to curtail its access to technology.

I think it certainly will slow China's advances in some of the key chip and chip making tools that have been targeted, there are no domestic replacements in China.

And so this will be really hard for China to get around in the short term.

Maybe in the long run, China will find its alternatives.

But for the next couple of years, China's got no real option to find an alternative source of supply.

As the stand-off between Washington and Beijing continues, Taiwan's dominance as a chipmaker will likely become another focal point for both sides.

With China stepping up military pressure on the island, tensions seem certain to keep rising.

At this public housing complex in the northern part of Singapore...

The government is stepping up the fight against dengue... by releasing mosquitos into the air.

About 1,600 captive males were set loose in this complex this day.

“We're releasing male mosquitoes, but they don’t bite.

They actually help stop the spread of dengue fever.” It's part of a government project to reduce mosquito numbers and cases of dengue.

Researchers have been releasing males over the past 6 years in 30 percent of Singapore's public housing.

The virus is carried by mosquitoes, but only females bite, ingesting human blood and infecting people with the deadly disease.

After mating, a female needs protein to lay her eggs, so she bites a person, giving them the disease.

The Singaporean project hopes to counter the spread with a bacteria called Wolbachia, which inhibits transmission of the disease and alters reproductive biology.

When a male mosquito infected with Wolbachia mates with an uninfected female, her eggs do not hatch.

What we have seen in the past where we have more than one year of releases, we can get up to 98% reduction in the mosquito population in that community.

Then at the same time, because dengue is a reportable disease in Singapore, so we also track the number of dengue and we have seen up to 88% reduction in dengue.

Meanwhile in Thailand, researchers are taking a different approach to stopping the spread of dengue.

For the past 8 years, a Japanese household goods maker has been working with a Thai university to study mosquito behavior.

Their efforts have shed light on new ways to prevent bites.

Dengue fever is very common in Thailand, so I think it's important to work on mosquitoes in this country.

They've developed this new repellent.

The researcher applies it to his forearm.

He then sticks his arm in a box with about 250 mosquitoes, but does not get bitten.

On the right, a skin replica with the repellent shows what happens.

A mosquito lands, but then quickly flies away without biting.

The key is silicone oil.

The viscous substance envelopes the mosquito's legs in an instant, pulling them down.

Researchers believe this makes mosquitos feel in danger, triggering an escape reaction.

Not getting bitten is the only guaranteed form of prevention.

I think we can stem the spread of dengue fever and malaria, and help save lives.

In the long running battle between mosquitos and humans, researchers are developing new technologies that are raising hopes in the fight against disease.

For the elderly, fractures can be debilitating and often require long-term physical therapy.

To prevent fractures from occurring, this new type of flooring was designed to soften the impact of falls.

And when rehabilitation is necessary, this VR system can make the process easier and more enjoyable.

Today's On-Site Report will explore some of the latest advances in Age-Tech.

If you drop this flower pot on a standard wood floor...

But when you drop one on this new type of flooring...

It doesn't suffer any damage at all!

This impact-absorbent flooring was created by Shimomura Hiroshi.

I lost my grandmother due to complications following a fracture she suffered after a fall.

And now my mother is getting older, so I'm extremely concerned about her health and safety.

I think fractures among our elderly have become a serious issue that could affect us all.

Nursing homes use trained staff and special equipment to prevent dangerous falls.

Unfortunately, accidents resulting in injuries still cannot be completely eliminated.

Floor pads made from foam can help prevent injury, however their lack of rigidity makes using wheel chairs and other heavy equipment on them difficult

- rendering them unsuitable for use inside of most care facilities.

Shimomura set out to create a flooring solution that could address both of these issues.

He used to work for a major motorcycle manufacturer and was involved in developing off-road competition bikes for motocross.

From this experience, he felt he could make use of a resin-based elastomer that is often used in motorcycle body components.

Not only is this type of rubber flexible, it is extremely resilient and retains its original shape well.

He created a sublayer of support cubes that much like a paper cup can support a certain amount of force.

But when that limit is surpassed, they give way.

In order to achieve the proper balance of firmness under normal conditions and shock absorption under sudden impacts, Shimomura settled on a thickness of 2 cm.

According to testing ordered by his company, the flooring is able to reduce the impact on elderly femurs to well below the average fracture point of 221 kilogram-force.

A basic set of the impact-absorbing flooring costs about $600.

At 180x120cm this is enough to cover one side of a standard-sized bed, which is common place for falls to occur.

We visited the home of 80-year-old Okamoto Kazuko, who has recently installed the flooring in her home.

After suffering a stroke 3 years ago, the right side of her body still remains partially paralyzed.

This has led to difficulty in walking and occasional loss of balance.

Her daughter-in-law, Hikaru, suggested she get the flooring for safety, so she had it installed in her living room.

If she were to suffer a bad break, not only would she need to be hospitalized, she would also need a lot of care and support at home until she recovered.

So,I thought by focusing more on prevention, we can help eliminate those concerns.

The flooring is now being used in over 400 hospitals and nursing homes across Japan.

Some of those facilities have been using the flooring for more than 2 years, and so far not a single femoral facture has been reported.

Shimomura now has his eyes set on taking his product outside of Japan.

After showing the flooring at various exhibitions in the US and France in 2022, he plans to begin selling it internationally in 2023.

The risk of dangerous falls for elderly people exists in every part of the world.

It doesn't matter the language, or the culture, the core problem is the same.

Since our flooring can help prevent serious injury, I really hope to see it be adopted all over.

Every day, more than 100 patients visit this rehabilitation center.

72-year-old Watanabe Fukuichi is one of them.

He broke his leg 2 months ago and has come in today for a 40-minute physical therapy session.

I can't put my full weight on my right leg yet, so that makes walking without some kind of support impossible.

His session begins by strapping on a VR headset that is connected to a stationary bike.

Suddenly, he is transported to the streets of Barcelona.

As he pedals, he finds himself traveling the same distance within the VR landscape that he's viewing.

The VR software was developed by Kumita Hiroshi.

He wanted to find a way to make the often painful and monotonous rehabilitation process more fun and enjoyable.

When I suffered a broken bone, the physical therapy sessions I had to go through were extremely long and hard.

The moment you begin to pedal, you start to move within the VR program.

The faster your legs go, the faster you move through the city's streets.

The system was designed to encourage the user to continue pedaling for as long as they can.

Rather than just having a set goal, the program is based on virtual sight-seeing.

Information on famous locations is displayed, further adding to the sense of being on a guided tour.

The headset allows the user to look around in any direction, offering a 360- degree space to explore furthering adding to the immersive experience.

The VR program and the video footage are both produced in-house.

So far the system offers virtual tours of over 200 popular travel destinations, both within Japan and abroad.

Next, Watanabe chooses a stretch of rugged coast in western Japan that's famous for its beautiful sunsets It's beautiful!

If I keep going, I'll fall in!

During today's session, he pedaled for 9 minutes, covering the equivalent of 900 meters in distance travelled.

So, what do you think of it?

It's really fun, and if it's good for my leg, I'd like to do it every day!

When I get a bit stronger, I'd like to try increasing the resistance.

Instead of everything being hard and monotonous, I hope to incorporate more enjoyable exercise methods into my rehab programs.

This will help motivate my patients to keep going until they can recover.

The VR rehabilitation system rents for about $200 per month and includes the headset, a control tablet, and a stationary bike.

It's now being used by 20 different rehabilitation centers within Japan.

I think VR can be a great tool to help people to regain their strength and mobility.

My goal is to make the rehabilitation process fun enough to get patients to keep coming back again and again without realizing how much time has passed.