Concussion and longer-lasting brain damage caused by the compression waves from explosions are a growing problem for the military. Carbon foam able to absorb a blast could help tackle that.
A team funded by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Alabama, has developed panels of carbon foam with pores varying in size from 50 micrometres to 2 millimetres.
Carbon foam is made by heat-treating particular materials made from carbon fibres. In tests, panels of the foam absorbed up to 83% of the energy of a blast wave from the detonation of 2 kilograms of C4 explosives at a distance of only 20 centimetres.
This is possible because the foam's pores collapse when hit by a compression wave, absorbing its energy.
The team says the material could be used to protect rooms and vehicles and, if used to enclose explosives, could prevent their accidental detonation when caught in a blast.
Read the full explosion-absorbing foam patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Archive for June, 2008
Explosion-absorbing foam
Thursday, June 12th, 2008Antibody adapters
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Antibodies bind onto foreign substances – antigens – inside the body. Much like a key must fit its lock they need a 3D structure to be able to latch onto their specific antigen.
However, many antigens such as HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – seem impervious to this kind of attack and no known antibody is able to bind to them.
Peter Kwong at the National Institutes of Health Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center in Washington, DC, US, thinks it may be possible to trick the immune system into latching onto these untouchable antigens.
His idea is to design a kind of protein "adapter" that can bind to the antigen on one end and an existing antibody at the other, allowing the antigen to be neutralised.
Kwong and his colleagues have come up with a method of designing these structures on computer and say the approach could provide a new way to fight diseases, such as HIV, that have resisted other approaches.
This will not be an easy process, though – the shapes of antigens and antibodies are hugely complex. Even calculating what they look like requires cutting-edge computer-modelling tools. Predicting what kind of protein could modify that shape is even harder.
Read the full antibody adapter patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
However, many antigens such as HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – seem impervious to this kind of attack and no known antibody is able to bind to them.
Peter Kwong at the National Institutes of Health Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center in Washington, DC, US, thinks it may be possible to trick the immune system into latching onto these untouchable antigens.
His idea is to design a kind of protein "adapter" that can bind to the antigen on one end and an existing antibody at the other, allowing the antigen to be neutralised.
Kwong and his colleagues have come up with a method of designing these structures on computer and say the approach could provide a new way to fight diseases, such as HIV, that have resisted other approaches.
This will not be an easy process, though – the shapes of antigens and antibodies are hugely complex. Even calculating what they look like requires cutting-edge computer-modelling tools. Predicting what kind of protein could modify that shape is even harder.
Read the full antibody adapter patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Legitimizing Marijuana
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
JANE WELLS of CNBC keeps a blog called Funny Business, but her recent reports on California’s medical marijuana industry are about a business that is increasingly being taken seriously. They amount to a short primer on how the business works and how the operators of the state’s estimated 500 dispensaries deal with the high risks [...]
Red wine stops effects of high-fat diet
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Red wine contins resveratrol which can blunt the toxic effects of a high-fat diet
Red wine does indeed explain why the French get away with a relatively clean bill of heart health despite eating a diet loaded with saturated fats, concludes a new study.
People living in France have a much lower incidence [...]
America’s Most Unhealthy Drinks Exposed
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Whether you are on a hardcore diet trying to lose major pounds or just someone trying to stay in good shape, you should be aware that there are a lot of so-called “healthy” drinks out there that will do you more harm than good. To help you steer clear of these devilish drinks, Men’s Health [...]
Mother’s anger turns to delight after her baby survives an abortion
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Finley Crampton really shouldn’t be here. Although his parents would have loved another child, they knew their baby could inherit a life-threatening kidney condition – and they couldn’t take the risk.
After all, their first son had died of the condition and the second was born with serious kidney damage.
So when Finley’s mother, Jodie Percival, became [...]
Rare Surgeries
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
f shows like House M.D. or ER have taught us anything, it’s that gift-wrapped medical mysteries with happy endings appeal to the public — regardless of the story’s reliance on fact or “real†science. Step aside Hollywood, the following are a few exciting and rare surgeries. Unlike their made-for-TV spin-offs, however, these rare surgeries are [...]
Medical marvel: Baby Macie Hope was born twice
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Video
When Chad and Keri McCartney say their infant daughter, Macie Hope, is born again, they aren’t referring to religion — the month-old miracle baby really was born twice.
The first “birth†was about six months into Keri McCartney’s pregnancy, when surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital took the tiny fetus from Keri’s womb to remove a tumor [...]
After livers, cash to UCLA
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Japanese Police Tadamasa Goto received a life-saving liver transplant at UCLA Medical Center. Goto is one of Japan’s most powerful gang bosses, which experts describe as vindictive and at times brutal.
A Japanese mob boss and another man said to have gang ties each donated $100,000 after their transplants. The university said the gifts had absolutely [...]
3 Years Later, Knees Made for Dancing
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
The question most often asked by longtime readers and acquaintances I haven’t seen for a while is, “How are your knees?â€
They recall the columns I wrote in February 2005, three months after having both knees replaced, in which I described the unexpected, prolonged and poorly treated postoperative pain and the surprising length of time before [...]