New Methods for Revealing Brain Structure
By Gordon Kindlmann.
The technology of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been used in an ever-increasing variety of applications in the area of medical imaging. This is partly because of MRI's basic ability to non-invasively and non-destructively take images of living tissue, and also because of the inherent flexibility in the way that MRI machines are programmed in order to acquire images. One relatively new method of using MRI technology is called "diffusion tensor imaging". By measuring the directions along which water molecules diffuse through brain tissue, this technology allows us to explore the structure of the brain in new ways which benefit many disciplines. For example, it can help doctors to better detect abnormalities in brain tissue, cognitive scientists to better understand the interconnections between the functional units of the brain, and show biologists how brain tissue becomes organized in a growing fetus.SCI Undergrads Present Before State Legislature
“This is a great opportunity for both students and University alike,” says Ronald J.Pugmire. Associate Vice President for Research. “Not only are we given the opportunity to show off our undergraduate programs, but the students are given both the chance to represent their research to their elected officials as well as an early glimpse into the collaboration of education and government.”
SCI Institute Appeals to Local Business Leadership for Increases In State Funding
He described the history of biomedical devices from EEG to MRI. The talk also included the story of a real patient treated in part with technology developed here at the SCI Institute. Dr. Johnson described the case of Sarah, a child diagnosed with a tumor near the top of her spinal column. In such cases, doctors are only able to see sets of two-dimensional slices generated from an MRI. The physician must then reconstruct a three-dimensional image from those slices. Using technology developed at the SCI Institute, the team of physicians was not only able to see the tumor in full three-dimensions, but they were also able to use stereo glasses to “virtually” maneuver inside of the MRI. The combination of these technologies gave the surgeons a much clearer visualization and persuaded them to alter how they were going to operate.
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Today's Tools - Tomorrow's Scientists: An ImageVis3D Project
In this year's high school summer intern program, the SCI Institute invited four students, one each from Juan Diego Catholic High School, The Waterford School, and two from West High School. These students were given the opportunity to work with a lead software developer from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing (CIBC). Their task seemed simple: take Seg3D and ImageVis3D (two advanced software tools developed by the CIBC), find a dataset of interest to the student, load that data, and experiment with the software on both desktop and iPad versions. And then, present your results to your high school peers. In the end, the students learned that research is a full-contact sport, not just a homework assignment. They had to 'dig-in', expand their knowledge, and learn about their subjects of interest, their data, their software, even their computers. In the end, the students translated this process and knowledge to science classes at their school. And, the top question after the presentations? Oddly enough, "how do I get an internship like yours?" Kids excited about a science internship! Mission Accomplished.
Mobile Mayhem: Researchers Harness Kraken to Model Explosions via Transport
by Gregory Scott Jones - NICS
The crater resulting from the Spanish Fork Detonation. |
Now, the good news: America's track record in transporting these materials is about as safe as they come. Very rarely, almost never in fact, are the potential dangers of these transports realized, largely due to instituted safeguards that seem to work very well.
However, accidents can happen. Take the August 2005 incident in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah, for instance. A truck carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives—specifically small boosters used in seismic testing—overturned and exploded, creating a crater in the highway estimated to be between 20 to 35 feet deep and 70 feet wide according to the Utah Department of Transportation. But the damage wasn't solely financial. Four people, including the truck driver and a passenger, were hospitalized.