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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 25th Nov 2001 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||||
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Robot Dj Goes on Trial - and Did the Crowd Notice ?
IF there are any DJ's listening to this show they might be seriously worried by this next piece of news, which came out in last week's New Scientist- Hewlett Packard have developed a Robot-DJ that could put the human equivalent out of a job! The Robot DJ creates dance music by putting together tracks from its own personal library of drum, bass, keyboard and vocal patterns. And it can even sense what kind of vibe is coming from the dance floor! All of the clubbers wear a wrist device that monitors their behaviour so our RoboDJ can tell whether they're dancing like mad or whether they're bored and have wandered off the dance floor to get a drink. This means the RobotDJ can work out what the crowd like. It's programmed to learn from its mistakes and to put tracks together that will get the clubbers going. The best bit is that each clubber would be able to take home a CD of the music they had helped to create!
25th Nov 2001
A Sound Weapon to Use in an Emergency
The events of 11th September have focused attention on the question of safety in aeroplanes. In-flight armed guards might be able to prevent hijackers taking over, but what could they be armed with? Researchers in America have come up with a solution that would immobilize attackers but cause no damage to the plane: a sound gun which literally fires out a bullet of sound to inflict pain and disorientation. The man who invented this device, Elwood Norris, tried it out on himself. "It almost knocked me off my butt" he said. "You could virtually knock a cow on its back with this". This is not surprising as the gun gives a pulse of sound at over 140 decibels, and sound becomes painful between 120 and 130 decibels. The sound gun causes intense pain to the eardrum, and hearing loss for a few hours. But it also disorientates people by shocking the inner ear, which affects their balance. The gun works in the same way as hi-fi speakers, by producing pressure waves. However, in the gun these are magnified many times over. This might all sound too good to be true (excuse the pun). However, there are some drawbacks. The sound wave can't be directed at just one person, and the hearing loss it inflicts could be permanent.
25th Nov 2001
Scientists Make Cancer-busting Nanogenerators
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have developed a molecular nanogenerator that uses radioactivity to kill cancer cells. These nanogenerators consist of a single radioactive atom contained inside a molecular cage and attached to an antibody that homes in selectively on cancer cells, carrying the radioactivity to the interior of the cancer cells which it destroys by blasting their DNA and proteins to pieces. The investigators tested the nanogenerators on cells in dishes from variety of human cancer cell types including leukaemia, lymphoma, breast, ovarian, and prostate. Dr. Scheinberg and his colleagues, who pioneered the work, also tested the treatment on mice with prostate cancer and lymphoma. Many of the animals had long-term survival, and all of them had their lives extended after a single treatment at a low dose. Although the mice treated with the drug seemed to experience no toxic side effects, the true test of whether this will become an effective therapy will not be known until those human trials begin. According to the researchers, the first disease likely to be tested will be lymphoma.
Article about photodynamic therapy as a targeted anticancer treatment
25th Nov 2001
Eye Contact
Researchers have shown why maintaining eye contact with other people is important, whether you are trying to chat someone up, or appear honest ! They scanned the brain activity of 16 men and women when they were shown a series of photographs of 40 different faces, all of which were looking in different directions. When eye contact was made, the activity shot up in the part of the brain called the ventral striatum, which is known to be involved in expecting or anticipating a reward. When no eye-contact was made the activity in the ventral striatum went down.
25th Nov 2001
Polio Nearly Beaten
With only 2320 cases last year, Polio is close to being eradicated worldwide, according to a report in the journal Tropical Medicine this week. As well as preventing suffering, disability and death, particularly in the 3rd World, the eradication of Polio will save about 1 billion Pounds per year which is the amount currently being spent vaccinating people against the virus. This money could usefully be spent tackling other 3rd World diseases, including vitamin A deficiency, Hepatitis B infection. HIV, Malaria and TB.
25th Nov 2001
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