Next Generation Prothestics
Check out this video about the next generation of prosthetics (below the fold):...Posted on June 2, 2008 10:57 AM • 0 Comments •
Profile
Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.
Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.
Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.
DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.
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Technology:
Rumors about the Internet's demise have been exaggerated
Everyone seems to be worried about when the Internet will implode. From the Economist Tech.view: And not just because of the popularity of such file-sharing programs with music fans. The sizes of the files they handled increased dramatically. Music tracks...Posted on April 20, 2008 5:20 PM • 0 Comments •
Playing hookie at the FIRST Robotics Competition
I didn't have much to do this afternoon, so I played hookie and went down to the FIRST Robotics Competition. The competition pits bands of high school students (and their engineer/mentors) in a contest to see who can build the...Posted on April 4, 2008 4:56 PM • 1 Comments •
Tracking Invasive Plant Species from the Air
How do you track the relative contributions of a plant species in an ecosystem? When you are talking about thousands of square miles of land area this can be an incredibly daunting task, but it is very important because it...Posted on March 5, 2008 12:34 PM • 0 Comments •
Cell phone tattoo that runs on blood glucose
That is amazing: The basis of the 2x4-inch "Digital Tattoo Interface" is a Bluetooth device made of thin, flexible silicon and silicone. It's inserted through a small incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin...Posted on February 29, 2008 12:10 PM • 5 Comments •
Visualizing the Cell Cycle
You have got to see this video. Sakaue-Sawano et al. may have created the coolest molecular biology video I have ever seen. They developed a system of reporters to watch the cells transition between the different stages of the cell...Posted on February 14, 2008 4:18 PM • 4 Comments •
Two-photon mouse air hockey
The most elaborate imaging technique ever involves two-photon fluorescent microscopy and a mouse on a floating styrofoam ball.Posted on November 2, 2007 4:02 PM • 6 Comments •
A Vocal Mouse?
University of Washington researchers have developed a vocal mouse that moves the cursor around the screen with clicks and phonemes: The Internet offers wide appeal to people with disabilities. But many of those same people find it frustrating or impossible...Posted on October 10, 2007 11:31 AM • 1 Comments •
3D Animation created by balls of plasma
A lab in Japan has created a new way of making 3D animation by using lasers to create balls of plasma in the air: Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has developed a device that uses...Posted on August 17, 2007 10:50 AM • 2 Comments •
Using human motion to create produce usable energy
Now that's thinking outside the box: Two graduate students at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning want to harvest the energy of human movement in urban settings, like commuters in a train station or fans at a concert. The so-called...
Posted on August 6, 2007 9:59 AM • 6 Comments •
Energy Efficient Bulb Uses No Filament
Scientists in Britain have developed a super-efficient light bulb that works without filament -- thus making it likely to last longer than the machine that contains it: Scientists working for Ceravision, a company based in Milton Keynes, in Britain, have...Posted on June 21, 2007 9:42 AM • 6 Comments •
People to Cows: "Could you make mine skim, please?"
Researchers have discovered cows with genes that allow them to make skim milk: Herds of cows producing skimmed milk could soon be roaming our pastures, reports Cath O'Driscoll in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Scientists in New...Posted on May 30, 2007 10:17 AM • 5 Comments •
Memory chips from Neuron Cultures
Memory for computers is getting pretty large, but it is still based on basically the same system that it was several years ago. They have just gotten better a fabricating them. It is an interesting question to ask whether we...Posted on May 30, 2007 9:59 AM • 3 Comments •
Snot improves performance of electronic nose, is gross
They didn't need to go out and make artificial snot. It's allergy season...I got plenty for them right here: Researchers at The University of Warwick and Leicester University have used an artificial snot (nasal mucus) to significantly enhance the performance...Posted on April 30, 2007 10:15 AM • 0 Comments •
Optical buffering of light
Photons can carry enormous amount of information, but one of the problems in using them to encode information is that they are difficult to store for even short periods (they are moving at the speed of light after all!). University...Posted on February 6, 2007 10:26 AM • 0 Comments •
Probabilistic Clock
When I was a kid my Mom would always set the clock in the car forward about 15 minutes arguing that if she did that she would never be late. First of all, we were always early -- sometimes ridiculously...Posted on January 29, 2007 10:23 AM • 0 Comments •
Railgun is the big toy
I got into science because I like knowledge, but I also got into science because we get the absolute best toys. Railguns, particle accelerators, rapid gene sequencers -- these things still make drool come out my mouth. Anyway, I am...Posted on January 22, 2007 10:05 AM • 0 Comments •
I want a Batman suit
Check this out: Troy Hurtubise, the Hamilton-born inventor who became famous for his bulky bear-protection suit by standing in front of a moving vehicle to prove it worked, has now created a much slimmer suit that he hopes will soon...Posted on January 15, 2007 3:00 PM • 16 Comments •
A Web Experiment in Meme Speed
This is super interesting. Acephalous is trying to measure the speed of a meme -- an infectious idea -- as it spreads through the blogosphere. More importantly, he is trying to figure out whether they spread from the bottom up...Posted on November 28, 2006 5:13 PM • 0 Comments •
What a fabulously annoying invention
The Clocky Alarm Clock is an alarm clock designed to flee the scene when it wakes you up so that you have to go search for it to turn it off: Clocky (patent pending) is an alarm clock that runs...Posted on August 21, 2006 1:31 AM • 1 Comments •
Wheeee!
Look, an Israeli inventor has patented the McDonald's playland as a way to escape fires: A specialised emergency truck would carry an extendible boom that could be raised to a window in a burning building. Jaws at the top of...Posted on August 8, 2006 1:44 PM • 0 Comments •
Biometric Soda Machine?
Some students at UCSD have too much time on their hands: A group of grad students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are in the process of creating what one of the students calls the "most over-designed soda...Posted on August 2, 2006 10:22 AM • 0 Comments •
Robots: First tumors, then the world!!!
When I first read this it summoned immediate images of the robot from Lost in Space. Fortunately, these X-ray wielding robots seem decidedly less sinister. Instead, it is a better way to deliver X-rays to lung tumors, accounting for motion...Posted on July 26, 2006 5:14 PM • 1 Comments •
Photovoltaics from Heat rather than Light -or- Help Jake with Physics
That's quite clever: Instead of using expensive photovoltaic cells to convert solar radiation to electricity directly, Matteran's solution uses far-cheaper thermal-collection technology to heat a synthetic fluid with a very low boiling point (around 58°F), creating enough steam to drive...Posted on July 26, 2006 4:55 PM • 10 Comments •
Deflectors shields?
Nifty: Astronauts travelling beyond the Earth's orbit would be at risk of cancer and other illnesses due to their long term exposure to cosmic rays. Some of these energetic particles are spewed forth during outbursts from the Sun. Others come...Posted on July 19, 2006 11:00 AM • 1 Comments •
New genetic test compares favorably to pathology in breast cancer diagnosis
If you go in for a mammogram and they see something that looks suspicious, odds are you are going to have to undergo a procedure called ductal lavage. Ductal lavage uses a fine needle to rinse the ducts of the...Posted on July 15, 2006 4:30 PM • 2 Comments •
Brief Suspended Animation is Successful in Pigs
Surgeons are experimenting with ways to use cryogenics to aid in surgery. If you can put someone in suspended animation, it would make the process of surgery much easier. Here is a description from Wired Magazine about such an experiment...Posted on July 15, 2006 4:14 PM • 1 Comments •
In vitro Meat
The next steak you eat could be grown in the lab: Edible, lab-grown ground chuck that smells and tastes just like the real thing might take a place next to Quorn at supermarkets in just a few years, thanks to...Posted on July 10, 2006 11:31 PM • 7 Comments •
Software as an assistant to physicians
Neurodudes has an excellent article on software intended to reduce medical errors. Just from my limited personal experience, I would say that such software would be useful if people understand that it is limited in scope. There are three general...Posted on July 4, 2006 4:28 PM • 0 Comments •
Neuroprosthetics
Popular Science has a great article on the recent advances in prosthetics. They hit on one of the topics that I think has been really under-researched: neural to machine interfaces. What you would really like to do with a prosthetic...Posted on July 3, 2006 12:31 AM • 1 Comments •
Vomit Ejector Ejects More than Vomit
SciAm's Invention is reporting the filing of a patent for a vomit ejector -- a ultrasonic pulse that irritates the wall of the trachea triggering the patient too cough: Patients who overdose on drugs or alcohol can easily drown on...Posted on June 15, 2006 10:48 AM • 0 Comments •
