Developments to Watch
Edited By Adam Aston
Antidepressants: A Brain Scan Tells the Tale
Depression is one of the trickier psychiatric diseases to treat. Although there is no shortage of drugs available, matching the correct one with a particular patient is a matter of trial and error, and it can take six weeks or more to determine whether or not the remedy is working. Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles are trying to develop a better way, using highly detailed electroencephalogram (EEG) scans to study changes in the brain in response to various antidepressants.
UCLA psychiatry professor Dr. Andrew F. Leuchter and his team have developed a system called Cordance that combines EEG scans with specialized software. The system requires attaching 19 to 36 electrodes to patients' scalps. The software analyzes the scans and identifies minute changes that would be missed by standard EEGs. At the American Psychiatric Assn. meeting in May, the researchers reported that they were able to predict accurately which of a small group of patients would respond to treatment by monitoring changes in the prefrontal lobes of the brain. In one group, 25 patients were given the drug reboxetine for eight weeks and had their brains scanned regularly. Changes in the brains of the 14 patients who responded to the treatment were detectable after one week. And by week four, they were even more pronounced, compared with the brains of nonresponders. The technology has been licensed to Aspect Medical Systems (ASPM
) Inc. in Newton, Mass.
By Catherine Arnst
A Fresh Source of Silicon
What do energy-saving solar cells and PC chips have in common? Most such devices are made of high-grade silicon -- and that can be a problem. When chip sales spike, and supplies of raw materials are stretched thin, big computer-chip companies can afford (F
) to pay more for them. For solar cell makers planning to boost their output -- such as Japan's Sharp and Sanyo Electric -- that can spell trouble.
An alternative may be at hand. Scientists in Japan have devised a new method for producing synthetic silicon that meets the needs of solar panel makers -- even though it's not quite a match for the ultrapure silicon in computer chips. In experiments begun in 2001, Toshiyuki Nohira and his research team at Kyoto University placed artificial quartz into calcium chloride salt heated to 1,560F. Nohira found that where the quartz came into contact with two electrified wires, it transformed into silicon. And as long as current kept flowing into the growing silica, the electro-chemical reaction continued. Since it runs at temperatures 29% lower than those needed to cook up chip-grade silicon, the new process should make possible a cheaper method of silicon fabrication. For consumers dreaming of roof-top solar panels, the new recipe should also make going green a bit more affordable.
By Irene M. Kunii
For G.I. Joe, Smart Uniforms via Nanotech
After iraq, there's no doubt about the overwhelming U.S. lead in military technology. Yet soldiers on the ground remain vulnerable, despite their armored vests and biowarfare suits. In fact, the Army brass worries that the weight of the recent equipment, which increases the load that soldiers carry into battle to at least 60 pounds, may hamper fighting efficiency.
To give tomorrow's G.I. Joes a more decisive edge -- and cut their fighting weight -- the Army aims to develop a "smart," almost impregnable uniform. That's the chief goal of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. ISN, which opened on May 22, has five-year funding of $100 million. Half is from the U.S. Army, and the rest from MIT's and ISN's industrial partners -- among them Raytheon (RTN
) DuPont (DD
), and Dow Corning (DOW
)
Nanotech will be the key to a super-uniform of the future, says ISN head Edwin L. Thomas, an MIT materials scientist. It underlies the sci-fi- like features targeted by some of the projects already under way. These include: a reactive coating for fabrics that would quickly turn regular uniforms into suits that thwart a range of biochemical attacks; feather-weight, superstrong body armor; and fabric fibers that could sense a wound and automatically constrict to apply a tourniquet to an injured limb.
By Otis Port
Plowing Minefields into Cornfields
Land mines pose a lingering threat -- beyond risks to life and limb. Strewn across farm lands, mines can cause famine by making fields unusable. That's why high hopes are riding on the Obstacle Removal And Clean Land Equipment (ORACLE). Built by Sweden's Countermine Technologies and Caterpillar (CAT
) Inc. of the U.S. using one of Cat's off-the-rack loaders, ORACLE costs 1/100 as much as a military system to set up and run. Girded by steel-plated armor and fueled by a tow-along power plant, it uses a massive sharp-toothed rotor to shred mines before they go off -- or if not, simply to smother the explosion. What's more, ORACLE tills the ground as it traverses the field. In Croatia, says Lars Nylin, managing director of Countermine, "the farmers always throw us a party."
By Christina Passariello
|
Copyright BWStory.copyright, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Printer-Friendly Version
