Tuberculosis has long been eradicated from the world’s industrialized nations but continues to take a terrible toll in a few poor, rural regions of Asia and Africa. It’s not that new treatments are needed — medical science long ago figured out how to cure tuberculosis using a cocktail of antibiotics. A big part of the problem is making sure patients follow the six-month regimen of daily doses. Scientists have addressed this problem in a simple yet highly effective way. The first part of the two-component system is a kind of “smart” pillbox, called the uBox. It has 14 chambers that can each be loaded with several pills, which it dispenses from one chamber per day. To alert the patient that it’s time to take the medicine, the box flashes its lights and sounds a buzzer. When the compartment is opened, the uBox records the exact time and prevents double-dosing by refusing to open again until the next treatment is due.