Archive for June, 2012

15 Jun

Spinal cord injury repair to arrive ‘inside a decade’

Posted by seanduke in MATERIALS, MEDICAL SCIENCE. Tagged: , , , , , , .


There is no current treatment for serious spinal cord injury, but that is likely to change inside the next decade (Credit:
http://www.topnews.in/health/
)

People with spinal cord injuries could have a radical new treatment available to rebuild their spine, and help them walk again, inside the next decade.

That’s according to Professor Abhay Pandit, a NUI Galway-based scientist, and Director of the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials, which is also located in Galway.

Prof Pandit’s research group is aiming to construct a kind of  biological scaffold that will link separated pieces of spinal, and reconnect them, using stem cells that are ‘told’ to grow into new spinal cord tissue.

There are many hurdles to overcome before such a treatment is available, but Prof Pandit believes it will happen, and, finally, there will be an effective treatment available to help people with spinal cord injury.

This will be great news to those affected by spinal cord injuries and their families.

According to Spinal Injuries Ireland, spinal cord injury affects, on average, one person per week in Ireland.

The majority of these injuries are sustained by people in the 18 to 35 age group, and 75 per cent of these do not return to work after their injury.

Click on the link below to hear an interview with Prof Pandit, explaining the science behind what is planned over the next few years, and Martin Codyre, a 34-year-old Irish engineer with a spinal cord injury.

LISTEN: Interviews with Abhay Pandit and Martin Codyre

Broadcast first on Science Spinning on 103.2 Dublin City FM

15 Jun

Fathers also experience hormonal changes, ‘baby blues’ and the ticking of a ‘biological clock’

Posted by seanduke in HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, REPRODUCTION and FERTILITY. Tagged: , , , .


Fathers are also ‘biologically wired’ to care for their children, and experience the ticking of the ‘biological clock’. (Credit: http://www.blogmagazine.org)

As father’s day approaches, it is interesting to see what the scientific evidence is telling us about fathers and babies, and fathers raising children.

The rapid hormonal changes after a baby is born, and the ticking of a ‘biological clock’ are things that have been traditionally associated with women.

However, science is showing that men also undergo huge hormonal changes after a child is born, to make them more suited to nurturing; are more prone to depression after a baby is born; and have far greater difficulty making babies as they age.

This was the topic up for discussion on The Morning Show with Declan Meehan.

LISTEN: Interview with Declan Meehan

Broadcast on East Coast FM on 14th June 2012

8 Jun

THE CAR STARTER: Nicholas Callan & the ‘Model T’ Ford

Posted by seanduke in ENGINEERING, IRELAND'S GREATEST. Tagged: , , , , , , .


1926 was the first year that cars such as the Ford Model T roadster, pictured here, came with automatic starting batteries. Cars now started up at the turn of a switch thanks to technology developed by Irishman Nicholas Callan (Credit: automotivehistoryonline.com)

Up to 1926, all cars had to be ‘cranked up’ by hand, in order to get started. From that year onwards, Model-T Ford cars came with starting batteries, which meant that a car could be started without physical labour for the first time.

The technology that made this possible was the induction coil, which had been invented in the middle of the 19th century by Nicholas Callan, a priest and scientist, born in Co Louth that was based at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Callan’s coil made it possible to massively ‘ramp up’ the power that could be supplied from a small battery. This was done by rapid interuptions of electrical current, which meant up to 600,000 volts could be produced from a 12 Volt battery.

This induction coil, or electrical ‘transformer’ technology, meant that sparks could be created that ignited the petrol in the car, sparked the pistons, and, this in turn, drove the crank shaft and powered the engine into life.

It was a technological breakthrough that made it far easier to operate cars, and made them more appealing to a mass market. Callan, however, did not get credit for his invention until at least the 1930s, some 70 years after his death.

LISTEN: Interview with Dr Neil McKeith, Curator of the National Science Museum at St Patrick’s College Maynooth (Nicholas Callan’s Alma Mater)

First broadcast on Science Spinning on 103.2 Dublin City FM

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