The HumanWare Project

What If Your Home Could Detect Illness Before You Do?

Méline Liu

What if the walls around you could quietly help protect your health?

In this episode of The HumanWare Project, we explore a radical shift in how health can be understood, monitored, and supported - without wearables, cameras, or invasive tools.

Dina Katabi,  Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, reveals how everyday signals already moving through our homes can be used to detect subtle changes in breathing, sleep, mobility, and overall health. This conversation challenges the assumption that medical insight must come from hospitals or devices attached to the body.

Katabi examines the promise, and responsibility, of remote health monitoring: earlier detection, greater dignity for aging populations, and a future where care is continuous rather than reactive. We also confront the ethical questions around privacy, consent, and trust that inevitably arise when technology becomes part of our living spaces.