[12]
Most Powerful MRI Has Stronger Magnet Than the LHC’s
A. Madrigal, "Most Powerful MRI Has Stronger Magnet Than the LHC’s" Wired Science, wired.com/wiredscience, September 16, 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/bigmri/. [Accessed: March 20, 2010].
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology is an incredible way to image the inner-workings of humans and animals alike. An MRI machine that emits a magnetic field with near-perfect uniformity and homogeneity is a good MRI. An MRI machine that emits a strong uniform and homogenous field is an even better MRI. The MRI machine located at the University of Illinois in Chicago emits a uniform and homogenous field with a strength of 9.4 T (although it's more likely the machine emits a field of 9.4 T with some number of zeros appended to that number).
To put things in perspective, Earth's magnetic core emits a magnetic field with a strength of about 50 microtesla, or about 200,000 times less than that of U of I's MRI. If you've ever had an MRI screening, it's likely you were placed in a magnetic field of either 1.5 or 3 T.
Only four 9.4 T machines exist right now. The massive field could be used to predict the risk of neurological disease such as Alzheimer's Disease or Multiple Sclerosis long before even symptoms show up.
Granted, 9.4 T is a massive field and could easily yank a ferromagnetic object right out of the hands of the careless individual even at a great distance. However, it is nowhere near the current record for a manmade magnetic field with a field strength of 45 T, soon to be overcome by a project at the National High Mangetic Field Laboratory in Florida, where the final touches are being put on a 100 T magnet.
Monday, March 22, 2010
11 - Large Hadron Collider Triples Its Own Record
[11]
Large Hadron Collider Triples Its Own Record
A. Madrigal, "Large Hadron Collider Triples Its Own Record" Wired Science, wired.com/wiredscience, March 19, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/lhc-triples-its-own-record/. [Accessed: March 20, 2010].
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located near the Franco-Swiss border, is the largest particle-accelerator ever built by mankind. With a diameter of about 17 miles, the accelerator runs 574 feet beneath the surface of the Earth, with most of the ring lying on the French side of the border but some of it lying on the Swiss side. The LHC was built for the purpose of accelerating subatomic particles to near-light speeds, crashing them together, and observing what results from the collision. One major goal is to discover the Higgs-Boson particle, which has been affectionately and popularly described as the God particle due to its alleged ability to explain the nature and origins of matter.
On March 19, the LHC charged particles to 3.48 trillion electron-volts (eV), which is three times the energy of any beams ever achieved by humans. This figure is only half of what the LHC is proposed to be capable of. This achievement is welcome news to the some 10,000 scientists and engineers who spent years designing and building the collider, especially after the LHC broke down in September 2008.
When the LHC is able to generate a beam with a magnitude of 7 eV, the incredible explosion that will result could either confirm or challenge those theories that, at present, physicists regard as immutable. What's more is that the collision could finally give rise to a 'Theory of Everything,' or a single, unifying theory that relates the most basic forces: gravity, electromagnetism, friction, and nuclear forces.
Large Hadron Collider Triples Its Own Record
A. Madrigal, "Large Hadron Collider Triples Its Own Record" Wired Science, wired.com/wiredscience, March 19, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/lhc-triples-its-own-record/. [Accessed: March 20, 2010].
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located near the Franco-Swiss border, is the largest particle-accelerator ever built by mankind. With a diameter of about 17 miles, the accelerator runs 574 feet beneath the surface of the Earth, with most of the ring lying on the French side of the border but some of it lying on the Swiss side. The LHC was built for the purpose of accelerating subatomic particles to near-light speeds, crashing them together, and observing what results from the collision. One major goal is to discover the Higgs-Boson particle, which has been affectionately and popularly described as the God particle due to its alleged ability to explain the nature and origins of matter.
On March 19, the LHC charged particles to 3.48 trillion electron-volts (eV), which is three times the energy of any beams ever achieved by humans. This figure is only half of what the LHC is proposed to be capable of. This achievement is welcome news to the some 10,000 scientists and engineers who spent years designing and building the collider, especially after the LHC broke down in September 2008.
When the LHC is able to generate a beam with a magnitude of 7 eV, the incredible explosion that will result could either confirm or challenge those theories that, at present, physicists regard as immutable. What's more is that the collision could finally give rise to a 'Theory of Everything,' or a single, unifying theory that relates the most basic forces: gravity, electromagnetism, friction, and nuclear forces.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
10 - How to Reboot Your Corpse
[10]
How to Reboot Your Corpse
S. Karlin, "How to Reboot Your Corpse" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 2010. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/how-to-reboot-your-corpse/0. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
If you're like me and you've seen The Empire Strikes Back forty-seven times, you know that Jabba the Hutt captures Han Solo and places him in a cryogenically-frozen chamber at the end of the film. "I love you," professor Princess Leia, to which Solo coolly responds, "I know." That same premise is being developed by Alcor Life Extension Foundation based in Scottsdale, Artizona. For a mere $150,000, you can have your body cryogenically frozen and preserved indefinitely. If you just want to preserve your head, the cost drop to only $80,000. The idea is to preserve the body until sufficiently progressed technology is able to restore life to the frozen individual.
Alcor's current method of cryogenically freezing a corpse involves cooling the body to -196 degrees Celsius, or the temperature at which liquid nitrogen becomes gaseous. Obviously, the technology to reanimate a previous 'dead' corpse does not yet exist. Ralph Merkle, a nanotechnology expert and director at Alcor, believes that using nanorobots to repair damage done to the corpse is the best way to revive the individual in the future.
Retired philosophy professor and author The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions Robert Todd Carroll opines, "A business based on little more than hope for development that can be imagined by science is quackery. There is little reason to believe that the promises of cryonics will ever be fulfilled."
How to Reboot Your Corpse
S. Karlin, "How to Reboot Your Corpse" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 2010. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/how-to-reboot-your-corpse/0. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
If you're like me and you've seen The Empire Strikes Back forty-seven times, you know that Jabba the Hutt captures Han Solo and places him in a cryogenically-frozen chamber at the end of the film. "I love you," professor Princess Leia, to which Solo coolly responds, "I know." That same premise is being developed by Alcor Life Extension Foundation based in Scottsdale, Artizona. For a mere $150,000, you can have your body cryogenically frozen and preserved indefinitely. If you just want to preserve your head, the cost drop to only $80,000. The idea is to preserve the body until sufficiently progressed technology is able to restore life to the frozen individual.
Alcor's current method of cryogenically freezing a corpse involves cooling the body to -196 degrees Celsius, or the temperature at which liquid nitrogen becomes gaseous. Obviously, the technology to reanimate a previous 'dead' corpse does not yet exist. Ralph Merkle, a nanotechnology expert and director at Alcor, believes that using nanorobots to repair damage done to the corpse is the best way to revive the individual in the future.
Retired philosophy professor and author The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions Robert Todd Carroll opines, "A business based on little more than hope for development that can be imagined by science is quackery. There is little reason to believe that the promises of cryonics will ever be fulfilled."
9 - This Is Your Brain on Google
[9]
This Is Your Brain on Google
S. Karlin, "This Is Your Brain on Google" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 2009. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/this-is-your-brain-on-google. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
Gary Small, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, has created a brain scan with troubling implications. The scan successfully shows physical evidence of brain degeneration and Alzheimer's in living patients. Up until this scan was devised, brain degeneration in Alzheimer's patients was confirmed in a post-mortem autopsy.
The scan confirmed that Internet searching does stimulate frontal lobe activity, the portion of the brain responsible for decision making, but can also increase the risk of attention deficit disorder, social isolation and Internet addiction.
Quite remarkably, "Technology is not only changing our lives; it's changing our brains," says Small.
In an effort to combat the negative aspects associated with Small's finding, he suggests that the Internet user vary tasks at a reasonable pace. Small says that switching tasks too often slows down the efficiency of the brain over time, but that working on the same task for too long can cause fatigue in the brain. In short, one should not spend all of their time on the computer. "Go outside. Hang out with your friends and colleagues -- in person," says the author.
This Is Your Brain on Google
S. Karlin, "This Is Your Brain on Google" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 2009. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/this-is-your-brain-on-google. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
Gary Small, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, has created a brain scan with troubling implications. The scan successfully shows physical evidence of brain degeneration and Alzheimer's in living patients. Up until this scan was devised, brain degeneration in Alzheimer's patients was confirmed in a post-mortem autopsy.
The scan confirmed that Internet searching does stimulate frontal lobe activity, the portion of the brain responsible for decision making, but can also increase the risk of attention deficit disorder, social isolation and Internet addiction.
Quite remarkably, "Technology is not only changing our lives; it's changing our brains," says Small.
In an effort to combat the negative aspects associated with Small's finding, he suggests that the Internet user vary tasks at a reasonable pace. Small says that switching tasks too often slows down the efficiency of the brain over time, but that working on the same task for too long can cause fatigue in the brain. In short, one should not spend all of their time on the computer. "Go outside. Hang out with your friends and colleagues -- in person," says the author.
8 - Google and China: All But the Final Goodbyes?
[8]
Google and China: All But the Final Goodbyes?
[#] E. Guizzol, "Google and China: All But the Final Goodbyes?" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 16, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/telecom/internet/google-and-china-all-but-the-final-goodbyes. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
Relations between Google and China are, at the present moment, in a bit of a contentious. The nation, which is ruled by the Communist Party of China, warned Google that if it stopped censoring internet searches conducted by the citizens of China that Google should "expect retaliation" from the Chinese government. China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, was quoted as saying "If Google takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences."
Yizhong's comments should come as no surprise with all of China's attitudes about information censorship.
A concern is that if Google does stop censoring search in China, its employees in China could be arrested by the Chinese government as criminals.
Google and China: All But the Final Goodbyes?
[#] E. Guizzol, "Google and China: All But the Final Goodbyes?" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, March 16, 2010. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/telecom/internet/google-and-china-all-but-the-final-goodbyes. [Accessed: March 16, 2010].
Relations between Google and China are, at the present moment, in a bit of a contentious. The nation, which is ruled by the Communist Party of China, warned Google that if it stopped censoring internet searches conducted by the citizens of China that Google should "expect retaliation" from the Chinese government. China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, was quoted as saying "If Google takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible, and they would have to bear the consequences."
Yizhong's comments should come as no surprise with all of China's attitudes about information censorship.
A concern is that if Google does stop censoring search in China, its employees in China could be arrested by the Chinese government as criminals.
7 - Nobel in Medicine Awarded to MRI Pioneers
[6]
Nobel in Medicine Awarded to MRI Pioneers
[#] E. Guizzo, "Nobel in Medicine Awarded to MRI Pioneers" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, October 2003. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/imaging/nobel-in-medicine-awarded-to-mri-pioneers. [Accessed: March 13, 2010].
One might say that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Paul C. Lauterbur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Sir Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham in England in 2003 was long overdue. Lauterbur developed the technology used in modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the early 1970s and around the same time Mansfield created new mathematical tools for more efficient processing of the signals generated by hydrogen nuclei. Regardless, the two were finally honored for their incredible achievement with the award, which represents a landmark achievement in the way medicine is practiced.
The procedure, initially cumbersome and quite difficult, has evolved into a practical and widely-implemented diagnostic imaging technique. MRI was a huge improvement over the state-of-the-art at the same, X-ray imaging, which exposes patients to potentially harmful radiation. MRI is a relatively simple procedure and allows diagnoses to be made without invading the patient with surgery.
In 2002, roughly 22,000 MRI machines were in use throughout the world, and more than 60 million MRI screens were conducted.
Nobel in Medicine Awarded to MRI Pioneers
[#] E. Guizzo, "Nobel in Medicine Awarded to MRI Pioneers" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, October 2003. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/imaging/nobel-in-medicine-awarded-to-mri-pioneers. [Accessed: March 13, 2010].
One might say that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Paul C. Lauterbur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Sir Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham in England in 2003 was long overdue. Lauterbur developed the technology used in modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the early 1970s and around the same time Mansfield created new mathematical tools for more efficient processing of the signals generated by hydrogen nuclei. Regardless, the two were finally honored for their incredible achievement with the award, which represents a landmark achievement in the way medicine is practiced.
The procedure, initially cumbersome and quite difficult, has evolved into a practical and widely-implemented diagnostic imaging technique. MRI was a huge improvement over the state-of-the-art at the same, X-ray imaging, which exposes patients to potentially harmful radiation. MRI is a relatively simple procedure and allows diagnoses to be made without invading the patient with surgery.
In 2002, roughly 22,000 MRI machines were in use throughout the world, and more than 60 million MRI screens were conducted.
6 - A Weaker, Cheaper MRI
[6]
A Weaker, Cheaper MRI
N. Savage, "A Weaker, Cheaper MRI" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, January 2008. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/imaging/a-weaker-cheaper-mri. [Accessed: March 13, 2010].
The advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was an incredible achievement in both medicine and technology. The ability to properly diagnose an individual or animal non-invasively was a massive step forward in our ability to treat illnesses or injuries. However, with the average cost of an MRI machine hovering around $3 million, in addition to yearly maintenance and operational costs, makes purchasing an MRI machine a difficult feat for, say, a simple clinic in a developing nation.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a machine that generates a magnetic field with a strength of just one hundred-thousandth of a typical MRI machine's. They say that this lower-field strength produces adequate images that could be capable of detecting tumors almost as well as its big-brother counterpart.
The machine generates a magnetic field of only 46 microteslas, or just over the field strength generated by Earth's magnetic core. The principle of MRI is that a magnetic pulse aligns protons within tissues, and at this strength, few protons will align. So, the machine first emits a 1-second 'prepolarization pulse' of 30 microteslas, which is about as strong as the field generated by a refrigerator magnet.
Such a system could cost as little as $100,000, a dramatic decrease from the few millions of dollars associated with a full-strength 1.5 tesla MRI machine. The machine could even be better at detecting tumors than a full-strength MRI machine, which sometimes drowns out the signals associated with tumors and cancers.
A Weaker, Cheaper MRI
N. Savage, "A Weaker, Cheaper MRI" IEEE Spectrum, spectrum.ieee.org, January 2008. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/imaging/a-weaker-cheaper-mri. [Accessed: March 13, 2010].
The advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was an incredible achievement in both medicine and technology. The ability to properly diagnose an individual or animal non-invasively was a massive step forward in our ability to treat illnesses or injuries. However, with the average cost of an MRI machine hovering around $3 million, in addition to yearly maintenance and operational costs, makes purchasing an MRI machine a difficult feat for, say, a simple clinic in a developing nation.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a machine that generates a magnetic field with a strength of just one hundred-thousandth of a typical MRI machine's. They say that this lower-field strength produces adequate images that could be capable of detecting tumors almost as well as its big-brother counterpart.
The machine generates a magnetic field of only 46 microteslas, or just over the field strength generated by Earth's magnetic core. The principle of MRI is that a magnetic pulse aligns protons within tissues, and at this strength, few protons will align. So, the machine first emits a 1-second 'prepolarization pulse' of 30 microteslas, which is about as strong as the field generated by a refrigerator magnet.
Such a system could cost as little as $100,000, a dramatic decrease from the few millions of dollars associated with a full-strength 1.5 tesla MRI machine. The machine could even be better at detecting tumors than a full-strength MRI machine, which sometimes drowns out the signals associated with tumors and cancers.
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