We take a look at treating a gunshot wound in 15 sec, fatigue and light, a new Martian crater, the Olympic torch, Curiosity news, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.
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Show Notes:
Sealing a Gunshot Wound in 15 sec
- When a soldier is shot on the battlefield a medic must pack gauze directly into the wound cavity
- A startup called RevMedx, a small group of veterans, scientists, and engineers are working on a better way to stop bleeding
- XStat
- XStat is a modified syringe that injects specially coated sponges into wound faster and more efficiently than gauze.
- Early efforts were inspired by Fix-a-Flat foam for repairing tires
- After seeing early prototypes, the U.S. Army gave the team $5 million to develop a finished product
- The final material would need to be sterile, biocompatible, and fast-expanding
- The team settled on a sponge made from wood pulp and coated with chitosan, a blood-clotting, antimicrobial substance that comes from shrimp shells
- In just 15 seconds, they expand to fill the entire wound cavity, creating enough pressure to stop heavy bleeding
- A tricky part was getting the sponges into a wound, they needed a lightweight, compact way to get the sponges deep into an injury
- To ensure that no sponges would be left inside the body accidentally, they added X-shaped markers that make each sponge visible on an x-ray image.
- Applicator
- A 30 mm-diameter, [1.2 in] polycarbonate syringe that stores with the handle inside to save space
- To use the applicator, a medic pulls out the handle, inserts the cylinder into the wound, and then pushes the plunger back down to inject the sponges as close to the artery as possible.
- Three single-use XStat applicators would replace five bulky rolls of gauze in a medic’s kit
- RevMedx also designed a smaller version of the applicator, with a diameter of 12 mm, for narrower injuries
- Each XStat will likely cost about $100, Steinbaugh says, but the price may go down as RevMedx boosts manufacturing
- The Future
- When RevMedx submitted its application to the FDA, the U.S. Army attached a cover letter requesting expedited approval
- In the future, RevMedx hopes to create biodegradable sponges that don’t have to be removed from the body
- They are also working on an applicator that could cover large by using expanding gauze made of the same material as XStat sponges
- Further Reading / In the News
- How A Simple New Invention Seals A Gunshot Wound In 15 Seconds | Popular Science
— NEWS BYTE —
Blue Light
- According to researchers they\’ve found that exposure to short wavelength, or blue light, during the day can improve alertness and overall performance.
- Previous research has shown that blue light is able to improve alertness during the night, but new data demonstrates that these effects also extend to daytime
- The Study
- Researchers measured wavelengths of light that were most effective in warding off fatigue via the development of specialized light equipment
- They compared the effects of blue light exposure to an equal amount of green light on alertness and performance in 16 study participants for 6.5 hours over a day.
- Participants were rated based on how they felt through reaction times that measured electrodes to assess changes going on in the brain due to light exposure.
- Results
- Results showed that participants exposed to blue light consistently rated themselves as less sleepy with quicker reaction times and fewer attention relapses.
- They also showed changes in brain activity patterns that indicated a more alert state.
- The Future
- This opens up a new range of possibilities for using light to improve human alertness, productivity and safety by
helping to improve alertness in day shift workers in addition to night workers - A better quality lighting that would not only help them see better but also make them more alert
- The next big challenge is to determine how to deliver better lighting in many places such as schools, homes and workplaces that could provide a more productive and alert atmosphere.
- Further Reading / In the News
- Could Blue Light Help Fight Fatigue? Study | ScienceWorldReport.com
— TWO-BYTE NEWS —
New Mars Crater
- Researchers used HiRISE to examine a site after the orbiter\’s Context Camera had revealed a change in appearance here between observations in July 2010 and May 2012
- Before-and-after imaging that brackets appearance dates of fresh craters on Mars has indicated that impacts producing craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) in diameter occur at a rate exceeding 200 per year globally
- The impact crater dominates the image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA\’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013.
- It shows a 30-meter-wide crater with a rayed blast zone and far-flung surrounding secondary material and debris as far as 15 kilometers [9.3 miles] in distance.
- In examining ejecta distribution, scientists can learn more about the impact event
- Also Seen By
- Michael Thalleen @ThalleenM
- Further Reading / In the News
- Space Images: A Spectacular New Martian Impact Crater – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | jpl.nasa.gov
- Brand New Impact Crater Shows Up on Mars | UniverseToday.com
— Updates —
Olympic Torch
- Last Time On SciByte …
- SciByte 109 | ‘Earth-Like’ Planets & Sharks | November 12, 2013
- Olympic Torch in Space
- Ever since the first relay for the 1936 summer Olympic games in Berlin, Olympic torches have traditionally been used to carry a burning flame from Greece to the host country’s stadium
- On Nov. 6, 2013 (Nov. 7 UT) a Soyuz TMA-11M rocket launched with the Expedition 38/39 crew on the ISS and an Olympic torch
- The Olympic Torch was taken on a space walk for the first time on Nov 9, 2013 handed off from one cosmonaut to the other in a symbolic relay in orbit [the torch was not lit during its time aboard the ISS or, obviously, while in space]
- The real reason for the spacewalk is to do some routine Russian maintenance outside the station
- The ISS travels around the Earth 16 times each day, and the torch spent nearly four days in space [~64 orbits]
- That particular torch
- The torch was given back to Olympic officials and was the one used to light the 2014 Olympic cauldron during the Opening Ceremony in Sochi on Feb. 7.
- Multimedia
- YouTube | Raw: Spacewalkers Hand Off Olympic Torch | AssociatedPress
- Further Reading / In the News
- The Olympic Torch That Went Around the World… Literally | UniverseToday.com
— CURIOSITY UPDATE —
- Traversing Sand Dunes
- Image of Wheel
- Up close view of hole in one of rover Curiosity\’s six wheels caused by recent driving over rough Martian rocks.
- Mosaic assembled from Mastcam raw images taken on Dec. 22, 2013 (Sol 490).
- Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
- Sand Dune
- Curiosity reached the eastern side of a dune on Jan. 30 and returned images that the rover team is using to guide decisions about upcoming drives
- Before giving the go ahead to move forward, engineers took a few days to carefully assess the dune’s integrity and physical characteristics
- Curiosity was able to pass over the dune in Dingo Gap without difficulty
- The rovers science instruments and cameras to insure there wasn’t the potential to get irretrievably stuck in a deep sand trap.
- The team even commanded Curiosity to carry out a toe dip by gently rolling the 20 inch (50 cm) diameter wheels back and forth over the crest on Tuesday, Feb. 4 to insure it was safe to mount
- Previous Images of Earth
- NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit imaged Earth from the surface in March 2004, soon after landing
- Mars Global Surveyor in 2003 and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007
- NASA’s Cassini orbiter at Saturn captured the Earth and Moon in 2013
- Earth Images
- New images from NASA\’s Curiosity Mars rover show Earth shining brighter than any star in the Martian night sky and it even includes our moon, just below Earth
- The images, taken on Jan. 31, 2014 about 80 minutes after sunset, used both of her high resolution color mast mounted cameras to collect the series of Earth/Moon images
- The distance between Earth and Mars when Curiosity took the photo was about 99 million miles (160 million kilometers).
- “A human observer with normal vision, if standing on Mars, could easily see Earth and the moon as two distinct, bright “evening stars,” said NASA
- Multimedia
- Image Galleries at JPL and Curiosity Mulimedia
- Social Media
- Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
- Further Reading / In the News
- Curiosity Crosses Dingo Gap Dune – Gateway to Valley and Mountain Destinations Beyond | UniverseToday.com
- Mars Science Laboratory: NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Sees \’Evening Star\’ Earth | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
- Mars Science Laboratory: NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Sees \’Evening Star\’ Earth | mars.jpl.nasa.gov
SCIENCE CALENDAR
Looking back
- Feb 15, 2013 : 1 year ago : Chelyabinsk Meteor : A meteor exploded in the sky over Chelyabinsk , Russia. It produced a shock wave so intense that about 1,000 people were reported injured, mostly by flying glass fragments. To view the meteor streaking across the sky, many people were at their windows when the sonic boom shattered the glass panes. The meteor was estimated to be 2 meters in diameter, with a mass of about 10 tons. It entered the Earth\’s atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 33,000 mph when it was viewed by residents of Chelyabinsk (a city of 1 million about 930 miles east of Moscow) at about 9:20 am local time, just after sunrise. They saw a thick, white contrail and an intense flash of light ending with a loud thundering sound as the shattering of the meteor blew apart with several kilotons of energy (equivalent to an atomic bomb)
- YouTube | Meteorite crash in Russia: Video of meteor explosion that stirred panic in Urals region | RT
- Last Time on SciByte
- SciByte 82 | Meteorites & Asteroids | February 19, 2013
- SciByte 83 | Tiny Exo-planet & Medical Glue | February 26, 2013
- SciByte 84 | HIV & SpaceX Troubles | March 5, 2013
Looking up this week
- Keep an eye out for …
- Friday, February 14 | Full Moon (exactly full at 6:53 p.m. EST). Regulus in constellation Leo to the Moon\’s left during evening. You might be able to see part of Leo that looks like a backwards question mark, with Regulus being the period
- Planets
- Venus | Dawn | \”Morning Star\” in the SE
- Mars | ~10-11 pm | Spica, blue giant variable star, 5* to it\’s left. They are highest in the sky around 3-4am, with Spica now to the lower right. [5* ~ 3 middle fingers held at arms length
- Jupiter | Early evening | Eastern Sky, crossing overhead around 9pm and setting in the W before dawn
-
Saturn | ~1am | Rises in the E-SE, moves to its highest in the S at dawn.
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Further Reading and Resources
- Sky&Telescope
- SpaceWeather.com
- StarDate.org
- For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
- Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
- Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
- AstronomyNow
- HeavensAbove