Scientists Working On Device To Travel Through Bloodstream
In the 1966 film “Fantastic Voyage,” a submarine, full of scientists, is shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the bloodstream of a seriously wounded diplomat.
Forty-six years later, the idea sounds less far fetched. In a Stanford lab, engineers are perfecting their fantastic voyage.
“And then, we can make it smaller,” said electrical engineer Professor Ada Poon, Ph.D.
Poon says smaller is the name of the game.
“We have been in this project for more than four years. So we encounter a lot of obstacles along the way and then we solve them one by one, said Poon.
Instead of a battery, which takes up lots of space, the device that will be used for travel is powered wirelessly with electromagnetic radio waves.
“The prototype we built is 3mm by 4mm. You can see here that we have a 2mm by 2mm receiving antennae,” said Dan Pivonka, PhD.
The result is a new class of medical devices that are so small they can travel through the bloodstream.
“Right now we could go to the arteries. The midsize could go through the arteries, but we want it to even go through some smaller bloodstreams,” said Poon.
These tiny devices may one day change how we perform diagnostic tests, deliver medications, and even do surgical procedures.
“We are pretty excited about it, but this is only the first step. We still have a long way to go in order to realize this fantastic voyage,” said Poon.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/04/04/scientists-working-device-to-travel-through-bloodstream/
The Tubes That Take Out Ticks!
Frederick must be tick central! Jo, David, and Katie are just a few of the dozens of listeners in that area who emailed me for details after I discussed Tick Tubes last weekend. Now, whenever you hear me mention a product or technique, you'll find all the details here on WTOP.com and Tick Tubes were and are no exception.
Tick tubes are one of my favorite tick-prevention devices. They're cardboard tubes filled with cotton balls soaked in a pesticide called permethrin that's especially deadly to ticks. You spread the tubes around outside, the field mice that are the REAL hosts of the so-called deer ticks that spread Lyme and other dreaded diseases take the cotton balls to use as bedding, and the pesticide kills all the ticks in those cozy mouse nests for months.
Used properly, these simple tubes can reduce the ticks on your property by 90 percent with no spraying and no release of any pesticide into the environment. Heck, they don't even hurt the mice!
More Ways to Stop Ticks
Our email overfloweth with requests for tick control advice from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C. So, in addition to spreading Tick Tubes around your property:
•Keep brushy areas near your home mowed and dry; ticks wait for you in damp, shady tall grass and weeds—not on mowed lawns.
•Don't use DEET. It's toxic to you and not very effective against ticks. Instead, treat sets of clothing you'll wear outdoors with sprays containing one half of one percent permethin. It's available at hunting and fishing stores under brand names like "Duranon" and "Permanone." These clothing sprays are very safe, highly effective and last through several washings. You can also buy clothing that has been pre-treated with the highly effective insect and arachnid repellent, "Insect Shield" is one major brand.
http://wtop.com/?nid=902&sid=2817011
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