A portion of
the rings of Saturn will be lopped off in the next portrait sent
home by the Cassini spacecraft. The probe is so close to Saturn
that in its most recent image, released today, the planet and rings
fill the full frame. Cassini goes into orbit around Saturn on July
1. The latest image, a natural color view from the narrow angle
camera, was taken March 27 when the spacecraft was 29.7 million
miles (47.7 million kilometers) from the planet.
Scientists have
built a tiny biological computer that might be able to diagnose
and treat certain types of cancer. The device, which only works
in a test-tube, is years from clinical application. But researchers
hope it will be the precursor of future 'smart drugs' that roam
the body, fixing disease on the spot. Instead of silicon chips
and electrical circuits, the miniscule machine is made of DNA.
And rather than being controlled by electrical signals, it senses
changes in its environment and responds by releasing biological
molecules.
Doctors sometimes
recommend ultraviolet (UV) light exposure for people suffering
from complications of a bone marrow transplant from a donor. The
radiation can ameliorate skin lesions, such as rashes and ulcers,
that are a common side effect of the procedure. But UV radiation
isn't a standard treatment, in part because its mechanism of action
is unknown and no large-scale study has established its effectiveness.
An experiment in which mice received marrow transplants now suggests
that UV light wipes out troublemaking immune cells of the skin.
The Arecibo Observatory
telescope, the largest and most sensitive single dish radio telescope
in the world, is about to get a good deal more sensitive. Today
(Wednesday, April 21) the telescope got a new "eye on the
sky" that will turn the huge dish into the equivalent of a
seven-pixel radio camera. The complex new addition was hauled 150
meters (492 feet) above the telescope's 1,000-foot-diameter (305
meters) reflector dish. The device, the size of a washing machine,
took 30 minutes to reach a platform inside the suspended Gregorian
dome.
A breast cancer
treatment based on MIT radar research that was originally intended
to detect space-borne missiles is showing promise in the final
phase of clinical testing. Preliminary results to be presented
on Wednesday, April 21 at the 9th International Congress on Hyperthermic
Oncology in St. Louis show that women with early-stage breast cancer
who received the MIT treatment prior to lumpectomy had a 43 percent
reduction in the incidence rate of cancer cells found close to
the surgical margins.
Got an extra
400 bucks? How about spending it on a yo-yo? A really nice yo-yo,
a state-of-the-art, forged-magnesium-alloy, ultralong-spinning
yo-yo. Later this year, Duncan Toys, a seller of inexpensive yo-yos
for 75 years, will roll out this new high-end yo-yo, which the
company plans to call the Freehand Mg. It comes with the latest
in axle and bearing technology, and its balance is ensured with
precision tooling to micrometer tolerances by a computer-controlled
lathe.
One of the big
problems with space travel is that one cannot over pack. Suppose
astronauts reach Mars. How do they explore the planet if they cannot
weigh down the vessel with fuel for excursions? A team of undergraduate
aerospace engineering students at the University of Michigan is
doing research to help astronauts make fuel once they get to Mars,
and the results could bring scientists one step closer to manned
or extended rover trips to the planet.
Astronomers poring
over 35 NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the solar system's
farthest known object, unofficially named Sedna, are surprised
that the object does not appear to have a companion moon of any
substantial size. This unexpected result might offer new clues
to the origin and evolution of objects on the far edge of the solar
system.
Got a broken
teacup, an art project, or a leaky blood vessel? “Super glue” it.
Surgeons at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are studying
whether a liquid sealant, similar to common household “super
glue,” forms a tight seal around blood vessels used in vascular
graft surgery. “When you sew blood vessels together for a
graft, they sometimes leak,” said Dr. Alan Lumsden, chief
of the vascular surgery section of the Michael E. DeBakey Department
of Surgery and principal investigator for the clinical trial. “In
this trial, we will seal that leak, or basically “super glue” it
together.”
The same technology
that powers the Space Shuttle into orbit may now help children,
thanks to a tiny heart pump recently approved for implantation
in young, critically ill patients. The heart pump helps patients
who need a new heart survive until a donor heart is available.
It is the first such device approved for use in kids. It earned
Food and Drug Administration approval earlier this year for use
in children between the ages of five and 16 and was recently implanted
for the first time in a child. Not much larger than a penlight
battery, the pump is the result of two decades of NASA collaboration
with famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey.
New fuel for
the next generation of military aircraft is the goal of a team
of Penn State researchers who are demonstrating that jet fuel can
be made from bituminous coal. The new fuel will not decompose at
high temperatures to create the deposits of carbon, which foul
valves, nozzles and other engine parts. The researchers are designing
the fuel for the new generation of high performance engines in
aircraft such as the F35 joint strike fighter and the U.S. Air
Forces’ VAATE program – versatile, affordable, advanced
turbine engines. However, according to the researchers, it may
be possible to use this fuel in conventional jet engines in current
aircraft.
In their first
human studies of the feasibility of using brain signals to operate
external devices, researchers at Duke University Medical Center
report that arrays of electrodes can provide useable signals for
controlling such devices. The research team is now working to develop
prototype devices that may enable paralyzed people to operate "neuroprosthetic" and
other external devices using only their brain signals.
