Could an Apple device detect your next heart attack?

If Google wants to stop people ageing, then it looks like Apple wants to help prevent some of the maladies that come with age.

A San Francisco Chronicle article talking about Apple’s talks with car company Tesla reveals that the Cupertino-based giant is exploring technology that can help predict heart attacks.

The team looking at the new technologies is led by Tomlinson Holman, who is something of a legend in the sound space, having helped invent THX and 10.2 Surround Sound.

That might seem odd, but it makes a little more sense when you learn that the company is exploring ways to detect heart attacks by studying the sound blood makes as it flows through the body’s arteries.

As Mashable points out though, in order for the sensor to make sense, it would probably have to communicate with something that could be worn on the body at all times.

While the tech news site reckons that could point to a possible iWatch tie-in we’re not so sure. Right now, smartwatch batteries just don’t last long enough to have any real medical application. If the heart attack prevention technology is meant to work in sync with a wearable it’s unlikely to do so for a good few years yet.