Popular Science 2010-03

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com . com . general atomics aeronautical systems. but cases like Per Segerbäch’s suggest that electromagnetic fields could be harming your health in subtler ways. john macneill. By James Geary march 2010 popular science 03 popsci. this page. our writer knows what progress feels like. istock PopSci’s illustrated guide to the unmanned aerial vehicles—from hunt-andkill drones to tiny pollinating bee ’bots—that will soon rule the skies. curing cancer: What was once quackery is now grounds for the next breakthroughs in medicine.storemags. jim wilson/lockheed martin. clockwise from top: nick kaloterakis. By Catherine Price 50 RAdicAl cuRes Restoring sight. After nearly a decade of treatment.fantamag.com www. By Corey Binns vital signs disconnected 54 The radiation from cellphones and other electronic devices might not be causing brain tumors. jonathan worth. By Eric Hagerman xx FronTiers oF meDicine 44 RebootinG tHe body Reprogramming the immune system could eradicate the autoimmune diseases—such as Type 1 diabetes— that affect as many as 50 million Americans.com & www. waking people from vegetative states.contents this month’s guide to innovation and discovery march ’10 features The Future of Drones 36 A Field Guide to FlyinG Robots on the cover: nick kaloterakis. GReeneR. We’ve got answers! 04 popular science march 2010 www. For an expanded look at current and future unmanned aerial vehicles. Q WhaT’s 15 GAdGets neW Set your camera on your laptop to transfer pics wirelessly. 30 biGGeR. 72 Ask A Geek What’s the best way to back up your computer? Q FYi 76 Why you shouldn’t dump nuclear waste into volcanoes. 70 GRAy mAtteR Making an LED with sandpaper crystals.com. head to the video at popsci. Get ready to lose an afternoon (or several) at popsci. courtesy Bae systems. knoW youR dRones The Predator was just the beginning.com/healthtech. istock. 24 RecReAtion A treadmill that re-creates any hike on earth.contents 16 72 30 reGuLars Q megapixels 10 A toxic disaster.com/jetquad. FAsteR Stopping bleeding quicker. 16 tHe Goods 22 Automotive new slideshows and features Apps for controlling your car with your cellphone. Q oTher sTuFF 06 FRom tHe editoR 08 tHe inbox 92 tHe FutuRe tHen Check out our countdown of game-changing technologies poised to save millions of healthcare dollars. Q hoW the secret lives of Particle Accelerators Particle accelerators don’t just hunt for obscure subatomic bits— they’ve helped clean up the environment and create better plastic kitchen wrap. To hear it roar and watch it go.co.com/archives.com/colliders. 68 build it Fixes for American Health care Make your own mini-megaphone. 33 AstRonomy The flying telescope that sees more than Hubble.uk. a ping-pong-playing terminator. john howell. a device to text via satellite. l-dopa The trillion-color TV. consult our full field guide to UAVs at popsci. 2. Jet-Powered Atv in Action This issue features staff photographer/mad inventor John Carnett’s jet-powered allterrain vehicle.com clockwise from top left: courtesy delorme. not to mention many lives. for free. See more collider by-products at popsci.storemags.com popsci. at popsci.0 65 you built WHAt ?! A bad-ass jet-powered ATV.fantamag. we’ve scanned all 138 years of Popular Science and made it available to you. and other superlatives. . the complete Popsci Archive With our friends at Google. thereddress. goT QuesTions? Send them to [email protected] & www. or jail them? 28 disAsteR tecH Tracking firefighters to get them out alive. Q heaDlines 27 ReseARcH Will brain-scan lie detectors free the innocent.com/droneguide. www.fantamag.com .storemags.com & www. but who also readily admits that he can’t explain why or how it’s affecting him. some scientists believe it may affect the body in ways that help to promote cancer.com ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY Art Director Matthew Cokeley Photo Editor Kristine LaManna Staff Photographer John B.com & www.jannot@bonniercorp. Phillip Torrone. Walker Corporate Counsel Jeremy Thompson For service anytime. seriously moderates them). I think “Disconnected” is a fine example of a less-heralded. Dave Prochnow. Rena Marie Pacella. Catherine Price. Theodore Gray.” mark.com JOHN B. he’s an elucidator. Corporate Sales & Marketing Mark Wildman Vice President. Preston Lerner. Well. There’s a tendency.from the editor THE FuTurE nOW Editor-in-Chief Mark Jannot Deputy Editor Jacob Ward Creative Director Sam Syed In January.popsci. Boland. told the New York Times that she had been convinced after reading that cellphone radiation increases the risk of brain cancer. Eric Hagerman. Seth Fletcher. in a session typically reserved for “emergency” legislation. please use our Web site: www. Palm Coast. when one thinks of public-spirited journalism. Kerri Levine Group Director. Mike Kelly. Taryn Guillermo. I hope Representative Boland reads “Disconnected” [page 54]. Corporate Communications Dean Turcol Brand Director John Miller Publishing Consultant Martin S. catchy headline. Enterprise Systems Shawn Larson Vice President. even if you live an otherwise healthy life. “Disconnected” puts them in context (and. Nick Kaloterakis. Carnett Senior Designer Stephanie O’Hara Contributing Artists Kevin Hand. Elizabeth Svoboda. though no less valuable.com www. There is as yet no proven mechanism by which cellphones do the same.COM Digital Content Director John Mahoney Digital Content Manager Taylor Hengen Associate Web Editor Paul Adams Bonnier Technology GRouP Group Publisher Gregg R. Most experts say there is no such mechanism. that while the electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones almost certainly doesn’t cause cancer. Anthony Ruotolo Executive Assistant Christopher Graves Marketing Director Mike Gallic Financial Director Tara Bisciello Northeast Advertising office: Lauren Brewer. And he builds his story on a character who exactly personifies the tension between what we know and what we don’t about cellphones: a former telecommunications engineer in Sweden who claims to be so physically sickened by the radiation from cellphones that he lives alone in a nature reserve. Its sponsor. Consumer Marketing Bruce Miller Vice President. Kalee Thompson. Bartley 248-282-5545 Ad Assistant Diane Pahl Southern: Manager Jason A. Box 420235. Martha Harbison Associate Editor Corinne Iozzio Assistant Editor Susannah F. P. His piece does a revelatory job of articulating the subtler mechanisms and risks that science is just beginning to understand. Matthew Bondy. Jessica Snyder Sachs. CARNETT Lower the Alarms EDITORIAL Executive Editor Mike Haney Features Editor Nicole Dyer Editorial Production Manager Felicia Pardo Copy and Research Director Rina Bander Senior Associate Editors Lauren Aaronson. Speed Weed Contributing Troubadour Jonathan Coulton Editorial Intern Sandeep Ravindran . E-Media Bill Allman Vice President. Bob Meth Ad Assistant Kate Gregory Detroit: Manager Edward A.com/cs Or you may write to Popular Science. for me. FL 32142-0235 06 popular science march 2010 PoPSci. “Cellphones are not like cigarettes. Joseph Hooper. James Geary’s investigation of the science behind cell-radiation concerns.” Geary is not a debunker. especially among kids. the Maine state legislature was slated to consider a measure requiring cellphone packaging to feature cigarette-style labels warning consumers that the devices may cause cancer. Rather than search for alarming studies in pursuit of a simple. Gregory Mone. Chip Parham 212-779-5492 Direct Response Sales Alycia Isabelle 800-280-2069 Interactive Sales Manager Chris Young Digital Sales Development Manager Brian Glaser Sales Development Managers Alexis Costa. I’m proud to be publishing it. Grune Associate Publishers Wendi S. Bjorn Carey. Rebecca Skloot.o. to summon images of whistleblowers. Paul Wootton Photo Intern Jack Forbes Production Intern Reynaldo Lopez POPSCI. crusaders and reporters who uncover and publicize a menace or threat to the populace. Locke Editorial Assistant Amy Geppert Editor at Large Dawn Stover Contributing Technology Editor Steve Morgenstern Contributing Editors Eric Adams. Mark Jannot “Let’s be cLear: ceLLphones are not Like cigarettes. Warning labels raise alarms. Sales and Marketing Steven B. for instance. Creative Services/Events Mike Iadanza Director of Events Michelle Cast Special Events Manager Erica Johnson Marketing Art Directors Lindsay Krist. He notes. Hano Group Director. Albaum jason@afatlanta. James Vlahos. Andrew Schulman Senior Planning Manager Raymond Ward New Business Manager Cliff Sabbag Retention Manager Connie Cotner Single Copy Sales Director Vicki Weston Publicity Manager Amanda McNally Human Resources Manager Kim Putman Production Associate Erika Hernandez Group Production Director Laurel Kurnides operations Director Mimi Rosenfeld Chairman Jonas Bonnier Chief Executive officer Terry Snow Chief operating officer Dan Altman Chief Financial officer Randall Koubek SVP. There is a proven mechanism by which cigarettes cause cancer. sort of public-spirited journalism: reporting that carefully examines and explains the evidence to help readers more reasonably assess the risks at hand. “Let’s be clear. Human Resources Cathy Hertz Vice President.fantamag.storemags. Graham Murdoch. state rep Andrea M. Mike Spinelli.com Classified Advertising Sales Patrick Notaro 212-779-5555. Bob Sauls. Shawn Woznicki Promotions Manager Eshonda Caraway Consumer Marketing Director Bob Cohn Associate Directors Lauren Rosenblatt. Geary instead worked to articulate this important distinction. Doug Cantor. Digital Sales & Marketing John Haskin Vice President.” Geary writes. Sara Schiano Midwest: Manager John Marquardt 312-252-2838 Ad Assistant Krissy Van Rossum West Coast Account Managers Robert Hoeck 310-227-8963. Production Lisa Earlywine Vice President. Berger. com .www.com & www.storemags.fantamag. a program that brings together brilliant minds to brainstorm world-changing businesses. who has a diagnosed hypersensitivity to electromagnetic radiation from cellphones and other devices: “Ever watch a nature program about spiders or fleas and find yourself scratching your way through it? When I left the shoot.the InbOx letterS@POPSCI. LETTERS Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. President Obama must take firm leadership and put our manned space program back on course. in many ways.” no one organization can do it alone. We’ve since removed our Wi-Fi. I could feel the microwaves coming off my phone and the car alarm melting my brain. While it is clear that the commercial space sector is certainly ushering in “the new space rush. The paper used for this magazine comes from certified forests that are managed in a sustainable way to meet the social.. Human exploration of the moon and beyond would restore national pride and bring purpose to our space program. Box 420235 Palm Coast.” THE FUTURE NOW MAIN OFFICE 2 Park Ave.” notes from the field For “Disconnected” on page 54.fantamag.COM P Star Chasers In our January issue. Send science questions to [email protected] please contact syndication@ popsci. jonathan worth Although your cover line “Who needs NASA?” was meant to be tongue-in-cheek and rhetorical. I felt it important to make the relationship clear. NASA has been a longtime supporter of SpaceX and. photographer Jonathan Worth traveled to Sweden to photograph Per Segerbäck. including those at the center of the burgeoning space race. photograph: Paúl Rivera/ArchPhoto. Elon Musk CEO and CTO. and explored the science behind James Cameron’s 3-D Avatar. has helped shape the company that SpaceX is today. There’s no question about the critical need for NASA. structural engineer: Dewhurst MacFarlane and Partners. But it was our coverage of the private space industry assuming some of NASA’s duties that drew the biggest response from our readers.com. economic and environmental needs of present and future generations. contact Wright’s Reprints at 877-652-5295. FL 32142-0235 popsci. SpaceX POPSCI. The Apollo 11 lunar landing was a positive achievement for America. Rick Schreiner Via e-mail Correction The image of the TKTS pavilion [“Best of What’s New.com & www.” December 2009] should have been credited as “architectural team: Perkins Eastman/Choi Ropiha/William Fellows Architects. For licensing and reprints of Popular Science content.O.com. we predicted what 2010 would hold for the world of science.COM . it is a question that needs to be answered and answered clearly: The commercial space industry needs NASA.storemags. We regret that we cannot answer unpublished letters. NY 10016 Fax: 212-779-5108 Web: popsci.com/customer service/subscribe SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES Report changes of address and subscription problems to: Popular Science P. Every airport x-ray machine on the way back was torture. 9th Floor New York. attended Singularity University. Because there is so much misinformation floating around out there regarding NASA and its relationship to commercial space. Comments may be edited for length and clarity.com NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS popsci.com/cs INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS For inquiries regarding international licensing or syndication. 08 popular science MarCh 2010 www. com & www.com .www.storemags.fantamag. com .com & www.megapixels the must-see photos of the month 10 popular science March 2010 www.storemags.fantamag. Now. a member of the International Medical Commission on Bhopal.com .cOM popular science 11 www. with the passing of the 25th anniversary of the disaster. but no comprehensive studies have been made. India. it seems that some people “would actually like to forget the incident. Despite the Indian Council of Medical Research issuing a call for such studies last year. walks near the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal. anecdotal evidence and reports not publicly available suggest a long-lasting legacy in the form of higher rates of cancer.storemags. born with six fingers on both hands.com/gallery. In December 1984 an estimated 27 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the plant and into the environment.com & www. Aquilla says. and birth defects like webbed or extra fingers and cleft palates in children of parents exposed to the chemical.” BY SANDEEP RAVINDRAN PHOTOGRAPH BY REINHARD KRAUSE POPScI. The genetic and carcinogenic effects of MIC will become most apparent in long-term studies that “are crying out to be done. To her.000 people.” says epidemiologist Sushma Aquilla. which in 1994 conducted an independent assessment of adults directly affected by the disaster.See more amazing photos at popsci.fantamag. delayed growth. CoinCidenCe or ConsequenCe? REUTERS QueStionS linger a Quarter-century after the worSt toxic-gaS leak in hiStory Eleven-year-old Salu Raikwar. The disaster resulted in the death of more than 6. there has been a lack of interest in doing them. Hoang’s ultimate goal: a TOPIO in every home. At six feet tall. to be held this June in Munich.com & www. hopes that a newer version of TOPIO. will win a match in the near future. Last fall. but it hasn’t beaten a human quite yet. Ho Vinh Hoang. possibly at Automatica.0. TOSY’s president. 264 pounds and with 39 independent points capable of movement (such as rotation) throughout its body.megapixels Match Point Your table-tennis dYnastY is toast REUTERS Meet TOPIO 3.storemags. TOPIO’s brain—processors and an artificial neural network— analyzes the ball’s path to choose the best return. Made by Vietnam’s first-ever robotics firm. which will have a more flexible arm and be able to learn on the fly.com .fantamag. not just to play ping-pong but to help with household chores and other tasks.0 debuted at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. an automation trade show. TOSY. the bipedal humanoid uses two 200-fps cameras to detect the ball as it leaves the opponent’s paddle. TOPIO 3. BY BROOKE BOREL PHOTOGRAPH BY KIM KYunG-HOOn 12 popular science march 2010 www. the chiseled robot appears a formidable adversary. the ping-pong-playing robot. com .storemags.com/gallery.see more amazing images at popsci.fantamag.com & www. POPScI.cOm popular science 13 www. fantamag.com .www.storemags.com & www. put the camera down. and your photos will hop over before you hang up your coat. TransferJet.storemags. we end up with images scattered all over. sony.—Rebecca Day brian klutch Get them: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-tX7 Resolution: 10 megapixels Price: $400 (est. lower-power version of speedy ultra-wideband radio and skipping timeconsuming file compression.com & www. Sony’s new wireless solution. And unlike Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. So electronics makers are coming up with easier ways to move your snaps. Come home after a trip.what’s neW tech that puts the future in the palm of your hand 20 Eco lawn mowers that run on grill fuel 22 Control your car from your cellphone 24 Gym gadgets that make exercise fun ConneCt the ShotS Zap photos from your camera to your laptop with just a tap Now that even cellphones can take photos good enough to save.fantamag.com . is built into this TX7 camera and Vaio F-Series laptop.720. When a TransferJet chip in the camera’s memory card comes within an inch of one in the keyboard tray. (That’s more than 20 times the speed of Bluetooth and even closes in on wired rates. from Sony and others over the next year. like TVs and digital photo frames. since the close range ensures that hackers can’t steal pics from afar.) The chips attain that pace by using a shorter-distance.4 inches Price: From $1.) SoNy Vaio F-SeRieS Screen: 16. Expect more TransferJet devices. there’s no need for passwords.com MARCH 2010 popular science 15 www. up to 20 photos copy over at a rate of a second apiece. and this HDTV is the first to recreate just as many. www. This seven-inch Wi-Fi display updates and scrolls your picks of thousands of free feeds. so it can mix more than a trillion colors. Sony Dash $200.com GOODS THE A DOZEN GREAT IDEAS IN GEAR Current Rotation Among the thousands of Internet radio stations. newkinetix. whirlpool. Whirlpool Vantage Price not set. New Kinetix Re Price not set. this four-inch cube radio tunes in only to the favorites you select from your PC.wHAt’s new Laundry Learner This Whirlpool is the first washer you can teach how to handle clothes.com Color Display Our eyes are capable of seeing millions of colors. Its built-in USB port will soon let you add custom cycles (downloaded to a flash drive from your computer) for garment-specific instructions.uk. which it can learn from other remotes by capturing and replicating their signals. sharpusa.com 16 popular science MARCH 2010 www.).600 (est.armourgroup. sony.com Get headlines automatically. Q2 Cube Price not set. Sharp Aquos LE920 From $3. Tipping it back and forth adjusts the volume.fantamag.com . blue and green.com & www. Its apps (including Reuters news and others from gadget company Chumby) broadcast changes whenever fresh info pops up.storemags. Its infrared emitter stores the codes for your TV and other devices. Sharp’s LCD adds a separate yellow filter to the usual red. and accelerometers signal it to switch between four presets of your choosing. Rest it on one of four sides.com By corinne iozzio Smart Control News Ticker The Re dongle and its app make your iPhone a remote. Canon Vixia HF S21 $1. When paired with an AMD graphics processor. which moves its 10x zoom lens slightly from side to side to compensate if you wobble. The 24-inch level has aluminum clamps that lock onto wood as thick as a 4x4.6-inch LCD in the lower right-hand corner appear as a virtual 14-inch display.com Read your current speed.com totable Tube Tiny Trainer This seven-inch DVD player is the first device to pick up free digital TV.com . Its tuner chip is more reliable than comparable cellular services and can show live local programming in 22 cities. A sensor on the controls takes your pulse through your thumb. delorme.com POPsCI. philips.com Text Anywhere Slope Info Stay in touch even on desolate trails.fantamag.).com Haier’s earbuds turn any MP3 player into a heart-rate monitor.canon. Samsung MD320 $3.COM popular science 17 www. Philips Portable DVD Player PET749 $180. temperature. ReconZeal Transcend From $350 (est. the SPOT hooks up to a satellite signal to send text messages of up to 50 characters that you type on a DeLorme GPS. Bostitch 43-723 Clamping Level $60.multiplex Samsung’s six-panel monitor is the first to show multi-screen high def.storemags. and the data is dictated to you and saved for review on a PC later. A lens and mirror make the image from a 0. bostitch. Absent cell coverage. haieramerica.com Hanging Helper Bostitch’s level saves time by freeing up your hands. DeLorme Earthmate PN-60w and SPOT Communicator Price not set. samsung.100. altitude and more from the inside of your goggles. it can show one image (as large as a 60-inch display) or six separate views. Haier Trainer Earphones $40. usa.com & www.100.com Still Film This Canon works harder to steady shake-prone zoom shots. It has a more sensitive image stabilizer than other models. reconinstruments. com . cheap and energy-efficient enough to replace those wasteful paper slips we still use for memos and grocery lists. the screen appears dark because the spirals lie in a way that lets outside light pass through to the black plastic below. Light then bounces off them. But direct pressure forces the spirals to stand upright. 18 POPular science maRcH 2010 GET IT: Improv Electronics Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet (with Kent Displays Reflex screen) $30.cOm www. no energy-hogging lamp needed. future versions will add memory that can save your scribbles for later transfer to a computer. naturally creating a bright whitish color. revised A bAttery-powered notepAd As convenient As the reAl thing Outside light A new electronic notepad may be lifelike. even mimics the feel of putting pen to paper. Instead. but it eliminates pixels and the expensive. The image stays put without power. That physical pushing is electricity-free (the board uses no power at all until you erase it).what’s new GaDGets HOW IT WORKS PaPer. thanks to a novel use of the material inside ordinary computer screens.fantamag. power-hungry circuitry they require. To erase. unlike in a traditional LCD. just like an LCD monitor. you actually push the crystals around with your stylus or fingernail. At rest. The Boogie Board contains liquid crystals. sCReeN INseT: eRIC HeINTZ HOW TO Write without Paper pOpScI. myboogieboard. Use it like a whiteboard for now.com & www. The four-ounce Boogie Board runs for years on a single watch battery and. because polymers mixed in with the liquid crystals help keep them in place.—sandeep Ravindran Direct pressure Plastic sheets Reflective liquid crystals Transparent liquid crystals The Boogie Board sandwiches trillions of liquid crystals—tiny molecules that arrange themselves in spirals—between two plastic sheets.storemags. and it re-creates a pen-like sensation that produces lines of different thicknesses depending on how hard you press.com BRIAN KLUTCH. you press a button that sends a charge between the plastic sheets (which are coated with conductive film) and rescatters the spirals. 2010 EPA 51/48/50 city/highway/combined mpg estimates. § ¶ *The Solar Roof uses a fan to draw outside air into the cabin. near outside ambient temp.¶App Storeis a service mark of Apple. Download the Prius Experience App to learn more.. then touch to see features and videos.† helps ventilate the Prius interior when you’re not there. Actual mileage will vary. on Prius III and IV only. The 50 mpg-rated‡ 3rd generation Prius. ‡ www. See Owner’s Manual.com/prius Recycles Sunshine. †Avail. Harmony between man. Get the Prius Experience iPhoneTM App from the App Store. All rights reserved.storemags.SM Interact.A. ©2009 Toyota Motor Sales. Inc.fantamag. U. 1) 2) Install. Inc. nature and machine. Options shown. Take a picture of this ad using the Interact mode. Inc. An optional Solar Roof*. lowering cabin temp. and parked in direct sunlight. §iPhoneTM is a trademark of Apple.S.toyota.com .com & www. Must be turned on prior to leaving vehicle. cubcadet.COM www. The Z Force S LP’s 33-pound tank is refillable at many gas stations.com illustration: stEVE KarP. you’ll escape the smoggy exhaust that makes mowing even more of a chore.and userfriendly. The canister holds propane that’s compressed by high pressure into an easily stored liquid. 20 to 40 percent longer than the same amount of fuel lasts in a standard mower. so you’ll end up saving cash. PhotograPhs. spills and flooded engines.—nicholas Mosquera Inside Propane Power Engine Pressure regulator Propane canister The Eco Mower burns propane with an ordinary internal combustion engine. But it can eliminate the inefficient carburetor and choke needed to turn liquid gasoline into a usable. vaporized form.storemags.com pOpsCi. too. and pumped propane costs up to a third less than gasoline. The propane becomes a gas either as it travels down the fuel line Fuel line (since an emptying tank or tilted mower reduces the pressure on it) or when it reaches a pressure regulator. this mower makes the package smaller and more homeowner-friendly. Propane is a gas. The tank fuels the two-cylinder engine for up to six hours. because propane is naturally gaseous at normal air pressure. In Related News: Sit on Your Can Cub Cadet brings propane to a riding mower.fantamag. so you’ll avoid greasy buildup. The propane-powered Eco Mower spews 26 percent less greenhouse gases and 60 percent less carbon monoxide than a gasoline model. Cub Cadet Z Force S LP From $5. plus you can replace its fuel conveniently and inexpensively. Although 20 pOpulaR sCiENCE MarCh 2010 some commercial ride-ons already run on propane. golehr. CourtEsy Cub CadEt E Get It: Lehr Eco Mower From $300. And since it produces almost no carcinogens or particulates. Twist a store-bought 16-ounce can into Lehr’s engine (similar to those in some ecocars) and mow for up to 90 minutes. from toP: CourtEsy lEhr.what’s new hOMe teCh TECH REBORN Greener Pastures BarBecue-grill gas creates a cleaner-Burning mower Propane fuels your camp stove and patio grill because it burns efficiently and is easy to store safely. Now the same canisters are making lawn mowers more eco.500. This series of spring-loaded valves lowers the force uniformly so that the gas enters Cutting blade the 139cc engine in a steady flow.com . not a liquid like gasoline. giving you green in more places than your lawn.com & www. It’s a version of the zero-turn-radius mower controlled by a steering wheel (not levers) that won a PopSci Best of What’s New award in 2007. fantamag.com & www.com .storemags.www. what’S new aUtOMOtive Remote-ContRol CaRs TECH TREND Smartphone-baSed SyStemS that let you commandeer your car from acroSS the country THE TREND Fly cross-country and forget to lock your car back in the parking lot? Now there’s an app for that scenario. lock the doors from any distance (provided you have a cell signal). starting with real-time traffic information.com from left: Courtesy HugHes telematiCs. check engine status. —Mike Spinelli Mercedes mbrace ford sync GM onstar Developed by Georgia-based Hughes Telematics.storemags. onstar.com GM’s telematics system and its human operators can already call an ambulance after a crash. integrating your app-rich smartphone and the cell-capable computer in your dashboard is the logical next step. iPhone and BlackBerry phones that will help Volt owners track their car’s battery-charging status. lead you to a nearby dealership.cOM www. ford motor. fordvehicles. Courtesy oNstar WHY NOW . including one that streams Internet radio and another that sends GPS directions from a lead vehicle to several followers. or track your car in case of theft.com/mbrace Ford’s in-car system already links with phones and MP3 players to offer voiceactivated access to music. and this year Ford plans to let third-party developers create other SYNC programs. contact lists and more. Engineers have worked with University of Michigan students on prototype iPhone apps. The app will get more features over time. Mbrace allows you to use your iPhone or BlackBerry to find your car in a crowded lot. Fully Use your phone to switch radio stations from the backseat or lock the doors. among other things. With the arrival of the Chevy Volt later this year. OnStar will link to your smartphone as well. HOW YOU’LL BENEFIT Many cars already have built-in computers with cell data chips and Bluetooth connections for linking to cellular phones.com 22 populaR sCiENCE MaRch 2010 pOpSci. Mbrace is available on all Mercedes models.fantamag. with an app for Droid. mbusa.com & www. fuel-economy history and other functions. It will even send a text if you forget to plug in your car. or track stolen vehicles. com & www.com .fantamag.storemags.www. which lets you pick popular routes like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Trail.com & www. the console sends workout data to the Web. Platypus SoftBottle From $8. too.fantamag.000. The NordicTrack X7i Incline Trainer raises and lowers itself to mimic the dips and hills of realworld topography. courtesy cascade desigNs. courtesy souNdofmotioN. where you can analyze it and plot your next run anywhere on the planet—or beyond. and software picks tunes with a similar tempo.com run to the music Biker Bytes The Activa MP3 player chooses songs that match your jogging pace. and it measures torque. for less-exact stats. Or. rotations and speed and beams the info to your cellphone. Soundof Motion VeloComputer $70 (est.). nordictrack.com clockwise from top: courtesy Nordictrack (3).com Stay hydrated without strapping a bulky water bottle to your hip. Philips Activa $130. It uses Wi-Fi to send your weight. iPhone or even your Twitter followers. When empty. platy. The Platypus reusable. it rolls up for easy storage. flexible nylon and polyethylene pouch squishes to stow in a pocket and shrinks as you drink.storemags.—Jason Daley four MORE: Fitness Gadgets scale of shame H20 Holder This scale adds peer pressure to your battle against the bulge. courtesy withiNgsi GET IT: NordicTrack X7i Interactive Incline Trainer $2. courtesy philips. (The “scenery” will help distract you from the burning in your legs—the machine cranks to 40 degrees upward or six downward. and a bacteriafighting lining means it won’t get skunky.com (iFit Live console also available on other models) . Withings WiFi Body Scale $160. as well as treks you’ve designed on your computer across any territory covered by Google Maps. strap an accelerometer-containing phone to your leg and let an app count its turns.what’s new RecReation Treadmill Traveling A mAp-equipped exercise mAchine cAn reenAct EXTREME CLOSE-UP Any hike on eArth Dreaming of running up Mt. since Google Moon is open for hikes. a seveninch screen scrolls the map and shows snapshots of passing landmarks.com Attach SoundofMotion’s magnetic sensor to a bike’s rear wheel. withings. The X7i downloads maps over Wi-Fi from a Web site called iFit.) Afterward. philips. Kilimanjaro? Do it today. velo computer .com www. As you run.com 24 POPULaR SCiEnCE maRch 2010 popsci. body-fat percentage and body-mass index to your computer. An accelerometer judges how fast you’re moving. Or it can select music similar to your favorite motivational anthem. com & www.fantamag.storemags.com .www. storemags.www.com & www.com .fantamag. They were not convinced. surpassing Taipei 101 by more than 1. When a person is recalling a memory or formulating a lie. director of the Program for Imaging and Cognitive Sciences at Columbia University: >>> JANUARY 4 LIE DOWN No Lie MRI scans brain activity with fMRI to identify deceit patterns. an Illinois judge allowed functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) as evidence during the sentencing phase of a murder trial.COM www. the more oxygen it demands and the brighter it glows on the scan. agrees and notes that. Defense attorneys for Brian Dugan attempted to use the tech to show jurors that he was mentally ill.fantamag. courtesy kosha ruparel/daniel lanGleBen/university of pennsylvania (3). No Lie MRI in California and Cephos in Massachusetts. fMRI could someday become an unbeatable lie detector. Late last year. The two companies marketing fMRI lie detectors.000 feet. In essence. the part of the brain doing that work will light up. the founder and CEO of No Lie MRI. Defense attorneys argued that the scan showed signs of mental illness and hoped it would convince the jury to show mercy. The next step is decoding what activity in each part of the brain means. says Joy Hirsch.” Joel Huizenga. That’s not good enough. have reported accuracy rates from 75 to 98 percent. The more a section of the brain works.” he says. Researchers are developing “deceit patterns” based on tests with people—images of the way a deceitful brain looks in fMRI scans—that computers analyze to determine whether the person was answering truthfully. many lawyers say the case is a watershed moment: It opens the door for all kinds of fMRI analysis.com & www.29 Better survival tech for firefighters 33 A telescope-toting 747 takes flight 34 Measuring blood to save diabetics research Head Case clockwise from top: Graham Blair. is a little more complicated. of course not. Despite the inability to sway a jury. On this map. standardizing the incriminating patterns and delivering consistent results has so far proved elusive. red a lie [right]. says that no matter the error rate. But because no two brains are exactly alike. The reality. his company is participating in more studies than ever to improve recognition of deceit patterns. They sentenced Brian Dugan to death for killing a 10-year-old girl. >>> MarCh 2010 popular science 27 POPSCI. activity in blue areas suggests a truthful response. “Someone’s life could be in the hands of this technology. Steven Laken. His counterpart at Cephos. The world’s tallest building is 160 stories. with acceptance of fMRI evidence growing.storemags. jurors have to be told [continued On page 29] that fMRI results are not infallible Dubai’s Burj Khalifa opens.com . including the work of two companies that say they can read brain activity to detect deceit. “Are we as good as we can be? No. fMRI scanners detect variations in the magnetic properties of blood as oxygen levels change in response to neural activity. It didn’t. ap photo Two companies say Their brainscanning Technology can find The TruTh in criminal cases It was a courtroom first. though. JANUARY 4 NASA’s Kepler telescope finds its first five possibilities in the hunt for Earth-like bodies. JANUARY 13 An international team of geneticists 28 popular science March 2010 www.storemags.com & www. location beacons strapped to firemen’s uniforms.fantamag. and sensors in their face masks that measure pulse. blood-oxygen levels and breathing rates.com .2 3 hOw It wOrkS sTep 1: Gear up 1 4 >>> The commander uses his laptop to activate radio receivers on the trucks’ ladders. fantamag.100ºF inferno produced inside the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s burn building.com . firemen feel the intense heat only when it’s seconds from flashover. engineering professors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Ironically.storemags. >>> POPSCI.” —SaNDEEP raVINDraN sTep 2: Drop THe BoX sTep 3: collect data sTep 4: see the scene Firefighters enter the building.com & www. Sensors attached to their harnesses and face masks beam their locations and vital signs (heart attacks account for half of all firefighter deaths) to a commander’s laptop outside. The new system involves portable sensors that register room temperature. let’s get out. Although the test caught guilty parties who lied. they’ll probably fail. the commander issues a “clear out” command over a radio. With further testing. Andrew Kozel.’ ” says Gerard Dio. not as definitive evidence of guilt. and that would tell us ‘That’s too frickin’ hot. The real test will come when prosecutors try to use fMRI to bolster their cases. Massachusetts. If their system works in the 1.hEaDLINES [continued from page 27] Disaster tech FIRe esCaPe GRAHAM MURDOCH a new sysTem could help firefighTers survive deadly blazes and find fallen comrades in The smoke This month. “I believe there will be more attempts to have this testimony introduced in court. the technology delivers mixed results. Now. sometimes it nailed innocent folks who were telling the truth. —JUStIN McLaChLaN sequences the first genome of a legume—the soybean—which could help agricultural scientists engineer better versions of the protein-rich crop. two of his men got lost in the smoke. Using a picture of someone’s brain to justify a prison sentence—or worse—may be too much to ask. The environment sensor beams temperatures to ladder-mounted receivers that relay info to the commander outside. Even so. His latest study.COM popular science 29 www. before we got hoods. presented by experts. That will take more research. All six died. “Considering that they’re risking their lives. for now. identify the source of the blaze. Despite the decision in Illinois. “This will bring them up to date. “but this system could have saved all of their lives. are true. and should be interpreted only for supporting a judgment. used fMRI to test people who had participated in a mock crime as part of the experiment.100°F flashover point.” Dio says. a researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who studies lie detection through fMRI. says F. judges typically scrutinize the merit of new scientific methods before admitting them in an actual trial.” Duckworth says. the very gear that allows a modern firefighter to run into a burning building also puts his life at risk. it could warn firefighters of flashover a minute before it occurs—enough time to dash out. It also tracks firefighters’ whereabouts in the blaze. “Years ago. The commander’s laptop shows where firefighters are. “Might” is still the operative word. Health sensors indicate everyone’s vital signs. The researchers hope to have the system in the field by 2013. the tech could give a fire chief everything he needs to make sure his crew returns safe and sound every time. If sensors report that a room will soon reach the 1. and four others rushed in to rescue them. But if attorneys can’t prove it’s reliable and relevant. will fill a building with expensive sensors—10 years’ worth of R&D—and set the whole place on fire. “I know we did the best job we could at the time. During a 1999 five-alarm warehouse fire. fire department. chief of the Worcester. it’s pathetic that firefighters are using what’s essentially 19th-century technology.100°F and all the combustible gases in the air—and pretty much everything else—ignite. studies show that jurors focus on salient points of evidence and downplay the probability of error—they tend to believe that scientific-looking results. Experts tend to agree that. a law professor at New York Law School who studies how courts use fMRI results. and deploy an environment-sensor box that extends a mast to measure floor-toceiling heat differences. which is helping test the system. BRAIN SCANS StIll StRuggle to CoNfIRm INNoCeNCe. James Duckworth and David Cyganski. the moment when the room reaches 1. partially funded by Cephos and published last year.” says Michael Perlin. we’d burn our ears and necks. and location sensors use radar and radio to pinpoint firefighters’ whereabouts to within three feet. and their icons transition from green to red if their health is failing. Kozel is seeking funding to test scenarios that are as close as possible to ones an fMRI might be used to evaluate in court. The answer is to make the fMRI as reliable as it can be. Fireretardant jackets deflect flames so well that firefighters can stay in a burning building until just before flashover.” It certainly hits home for Dio. says Atila Zekioglu.fantamag. a satellite that will study solar storms that interfere with satellites and the power grid.com illustrations: l-DoPa. the airport could be used to fly in emergency medical supplies and food. the most destructive movement.”—CArINA STOrrS Red blood cell greener The floaTing freighTer Take a blimp. In an event like the city’s 1999 7. The world’s largest earthquake-protected building. the building features a foundation with 300 dampers. and you get Dynalifter. from toP: Courtesy limak-gmr-malaysia airPort.com & www.storemags. which don’t need refrigeration. a principal at Arup: “Transportation is what makes a city tick. says Robert Rist. the newest terminal at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport can soldier on. Now engineers at Case Western Reserve University have created artificial blood platelets—components that clump together to form clots. can absorb 80 percent of backand-forth shaking. Courtesy ohio airshiPs The Quake-proof airporT . Last December they showed that the plastic platelets. When the 120-foot airship prototype begins test flights this spring. which opened last November.4-magnitude quake. which it’s eyeing for cheaper. each with a bearing sandwiched between sliding steel plates. the company will build a freighter-size Dynalifter that can haul at least 22 tons. greener shipping in developing nations where rough roads limit traditional trucking. 30 mph faster than conventional blimps. can stop bleeding in rats 25 percent faster than donated natural platelets. the co-president of Ohio Airships. Up next. The engines propel the craft at 80 mph. >>> Engines Natural platelet Artificial platelet faster Bleeding Blocker A soldier hit by shrapnel can bleed to death in 10 minutes. Helium compartments sky trucker A 700-foot Dynalifter [right] would transport goods. 30 popular science MArCH 2010 >>> POPSCI. Designed by the engineering firm Arup. add plane engines and wings. which is developing the ship. PhotograPhs. This year.HEADLINES overachievers we love BiGGer Bearing Steel plates There’s a 60 percent chance that an earthquake will level Istanbul by 2040.COM www. a fuelefficient aircraft. Cargo bay FEBRUARY 9 NASA’s planned launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. the researchers hope to test them in larger mammals. But when it does.000 cubic feet of helium-filled compartments will offset half its weight so the engines won’t have to work as hard. its 20. storemags.com .fantamag.com & www.www. com & www.storemags.fantamag.com .www. shown inside the plane that will carry it as it takes its first airborne images this spring astronomy ScopeS on a plane! COURTESY TOM TSCHIDA/NASA (2) A telescope-toting 747 is About to become Astronomy’s most versAtile tool In the movies. the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will soar above the atmospheric water vapor that blocks most infrared light from ground observatories. NASA’s pilots will fly the plane. planets’ atmospheres and clouds of organic molecules. opening the door on a plane at 45.5-meter telescope.000 feet is disastrous.fantamag. The 2. it could be built and operated for a third of the cost. POPScI. And because SOFIA is easier to design and maintain than a space telescope.com . >>> MARCH The U.HEADLINES cosmos in focus The SOFIA’s 2. Air Force’s scheduled first hypersonic test flight of X-51A. engineers added a collar around the scope to cut turbulence. Built into the tail end of a Boeing 747. but the scope’s nonpressurized. from ultraviolet to the far infrared. “when we’re observing. a Mach-6 scramjet.com & www. but the telescope’s controls are integrated with autopilot to capture steady images. But this spring it will be standard procedure on one 747—one carrying a telescope high enough to capture the cosmos better than ever before. cooled compartment should smooth the transition to similar stratospheric conditions. Stargazing from a flying plane is no easy feat. to shoot detailed images of star-forming nebulae.cOM >>> MARcH 2010 popular science 33 www.” —MARK WOLVERTON flying first class NASA modified this Boeing 747 to house a 17-ton telescope. the scope actually flies the plane.” says SOFIA astronomer Dana Backman.S. And since test flights in 2007 (which earned SOFIA a Popular Science Best of What’s New award that year).5-meter mobile telescope—operated by NASA and Germany’s space agency—will best the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes by scanning the widest range of light of any scope. “Although we changed the plane to fly the telescope.storemags. not just about taking insulin. The chip senses the electrons and beams data to the bracelet.com www.000 Amount of blood Americans lose every year for bloodglucose testing: gallons 1.600 bILLIoN >>> MARCH Iran plans to switch on its first nuclear power plant for civilian energy.fantamag.9 Number of glucosetesting strips Americans use every year: 25% 6 About lower-limb amputations of diabetics per year: 71.6 million Number of AMeRiCAns with diabetes: Emergency-room costs attributed to diabetes every year: good control of blood glucose decreases eye. says chemist Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos. University of Connecticut researchers hope to start clinical trials in two years and have the device on sale by 2017. not put them in. which could be especially helpful for the 84 percent of diabetics who are overweight or obese. But a new rice-size implantable glucose sensor that monitors blood sugar all day might mean less pain for diabetics. Many countries worry that it is also trying to make nuclear weapons. The chip works like conventional monitors: An enzyme reacts with glucose in the blood and frees electrons in proportion to sugar levels. called Glucowizzard. in a patient’s wrist and fit him with a wristband that powers the chip’s photovoltaic cells by flashing light pulses through the skin.com .HEADLINES med tech Sweet SenSor An implAntAble glucose sensor could help diAbetics leAd heAlthier lives Nurses usually pluck splinters from people’s flesh. which are typically used only five times day.com & www. The tech can show the immediate effects of eating too much sugar. “Our device should help people make educated choices. A nurse would inject the sensor.”—SANDEEP rAVINDrAN StatiStically Speaking: the diaBetes epidemic 23. which pings the user if sugar levels are extreme. Running continuously. a project leader. it could detect problems that might be missed by current finger-prick monitors. The sensor would be replaced yearly—the expected life span of an anti-inflammatory coating preventing the immune system from attacking it. 34 popular science mArcH 2010 brian kaas design billion p PoPScI. but about what they eat in the first place. kidney and nerve disease by $3.storemags. www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com . aesir Avenger Embla Inside the wild kingdom of the world’s newest and most storm a burning building to a seven-ton weaponized Mantis Samarai 36 popular science MARCH 2010 www.com . lockheed martin. Bae systems.fantamag.com & www.THe FuTure oF Drones clockwise from top: General atomics aeronautical systems.storemags. S-100 Camcopter Demon Excalibur Vulture Ion Tiger Global Observer spectacular species of unmanned aircraft, from swarming insect ’bots that can spyplane invisible to radar By ERiC HAgERMAn Phantom Ray RQ-170 Sentinel SkyLite SensorFly popsci.com populAR sCiEnCE 37 www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com THe FuTure oF Drones new breeds of winged beasts are lurking in the skies. Bearing names like Reaper, Vulture and Demon, they look nothing like their feathered brethren. Better known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, these strange and wily birds are quietly infiltrating vast swaths of airspace, from battlefields to backyards. With hundreds of different species, from spy craft to airborne sheepherders, UAVs have in the past decade morphed into a full-blown kingdom of creatures deserving of its own taxonomy. Today 44 countries fly UAVs, according to P.W. Singer, a fellow at the public-policy think tank the Brookings Institution and author of Wired for War. Last year, the U.S. Air Force trained more UAV pilots than fighter and bomber pilots combined. “Every so often in history, there’s a tech that comes along that rewrites the rules of the game,” Singer says. “I describe this as a revolution.” But UAVs aren’t just multiplying—they’re getting faster, stronger and smarter with each generation. The new Avenger hunt-and-kill drone, for instance, is three times as fast as the original Predator, which has flown more than half a million hours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The hand-launched Ravens favored by the Army stream encrypted digital data, allowing many of the 7,000 birds currently in action to serve as an instant communication relay. On the civilian side, crafts like the hovering Embla will be available to scout disaster sites as early as this summer. You may not have actually seen one yet, but you will (unless, of course, it doesn’t want to be seen). To give you a leg up on identification, here’s your field guide to the latest UAV discoveries. species: PhAnTOm RAy specs 18.2 tons, 50-foot wingspan class: stealth species: DEmOn specs 220 pounds, 8-foot wingspan class: autonomous Habitat: Defense giant BAE Systems laboratory in London Behavior: The Demon flies with no fins and almost no moving parts, so it rarely needs repairs. Software makes it partially autonomous. notable features: The entire body of the craft is shaped like a wing. Dozens of thrusters situated on its top and bottom shape airflow, replacing the work typically done by tail fins and ailerons. Onboard software varies the strength of each thruster to control pitch, side-to-side movement (yaw) and roll. BAE Systems engineers hope to begin test flights this month. diet: Standard jet A1 fuel 38 populAR sCiEnCE march 2010 www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com from left: the BoeinG company; Bae systems Habitat: Edwards Air Force Base, Lancaster, California Behavior: Spawn of Boeing Phantom Works’s defunct X-45C, this prototype jet-powered flying wing has morphed into a test bed for advanced UAV technologies, including electronic warfare tools like radar jamming, autonomous aerial refueling, air-missile defense and surveillance. Engineers expect it to fly at up to 40,000 feet. With an anticipated cruising speed of up to 610 mph, the Phantom Ray will be one of the fastest UAVs on record. notable feature: Its unusual shape allows it to evade radar. diet: JP-8 jet propellant species: VULTURE class: High-altitude from top: Jim wilson/lockheed martin; QinetiQ; the BoeinG company; aeroVironment; precedinG paGes, clockwise from top left: schieBel; Bae systems; Jim wilson/lockheed martin; Bae systems; Jean-dominiQue merchet; ronen nadir/BlueBird aero systems; the BoeinG company; pei ZhanG/carneGie mellon uniVersity; aeroVironment; naVal research laBoratory, washinGton, d.c.; mcardle productions Habitat: A belt of relatively calm air around 55,000 feet Behavior: Lockheed martin’s design for Darpa’s Vulture program can stay aloft for five years, turning lazy circles above any patch of ground that needs continuous monitoring. A suite of day-and-night cameras can scan a 600-mile swath, sending data back to handlers on the ground. The craft will have to beat out species from a Boeing-led consortium and Virginiabased Aurora Flight Sciences for a second round of funding. notable feature: The craft’s semiflexible structure bends specs Weight undisclosed, 300-foot-plus wingspan instead of breaking when winds cause the long span to oscillate violently. diet: Sunlight by day, battery-stored energy by night similar species: three other High-altitude flyers Zephyr Size: Less than 100 pounds, 75-foot wingspan Habitat: 50,000 feet above Yuma, Arizona, where London-based manufacturer QinetiQ is testing prototypes Notable Feature: Made of carbon fiber and powered by paper-thin silicon solar cells, the ultra-lightweight aircraft is launched by hand and stays aloft for up to three months. boeing Hale (High altitude long endurance) concept Size: 7 tons, 250-foot wingspan Habitat: 65,000 feet above future battlefields, where it will provide 24/7 surveillance and data communication Notable Feature: The plane stays up for 10 days, powered by a Ford truck engine modified to run on hydrogen fuel. Global observer Size: Weight undisclosed, 175-foot wingspan Habitat: Made by Monrovia, California’s AeroVironment, Global Observer will circle up to 65,000 feet above battlefields, disaster sites, borders—any locale in need of aerial surveillance or a wireless data link Notable Feature: Liquid hydrogen powers an electric generator, which drives four propellors. popsci.com populAR sCiEnCE 39 www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com notable feature: Whereas a ducted fan funnels air straight down to generate lift. for instance. This design bends the flow toward the ground. but little else is know about it.000 feet.c. or as high as 14.com & www. nevada. About the size and shape of a spare tire. it could even enter an enemy compound on a suicide mission. aesir.6-inch diameter class: Hovercraft class: stealth Habitat: Afghanistan and disaster zones. starting in June. Habitat: migrating from its suspected home base at Kandahar Airfield. 17-foot wingspan Ion TIger class: endurance Habitat: European airfields. the Embla’s turbine sucks air in through its top and forces it out through a skirt-like wing.000 feet without being heard on the ground. such as the Predator. oriented toward the terrain it’s watching. notable feature: Its carbon-wrapped aluminum hydrogen tanks weigh only about nine pounds each. revealing potential ambushes. potentially. d. and the absence of a wing-mounted weapons payload likely keeps it light and off the radar. this top-secret military spy drone makes classified sorties into enemy terrain. powers Embla for one hour.com clockwise from top left: Jean-dominiQue merchet. Loaded with explosives. It could fly as low as 1. the RQ-170 Sentinel flies via satellite link from a base in Tonopah. diet: JP-8 jet propellant. species: . 23. Its diminutive size lets it zoom down urban canyons to find hard-to-reach enemy hideouts. Afghanistan. It also has the ability to hover in place to. transmit encrypted hD video. the Embla lifts straight up from the ground without the need for a runway. naVal research laBoratory.storemags. which helps this UAV stay airborne longer. diet: hydrogen ions 40 populAR sCiEnCE march 2010 www. cheaper camera. washinGton. and climb to 10.000 feet. it closely resembles a 1945 Luftwaffe design called the horten ho 229. making it more useful to combat soldiers stationed in rough terrain.fantamag. species: specs 35 pounds.THe FuTure oF Drones spY pHoTo RQ-170 SEnTInEL specs Weight undisclosed. yet it’s not exclusively a military breed— Embla’s maneuverability makes it a good scout in emergency scenarios too dangerous for humans to enter. weapons and sensors on its belly. diet: Jet fuel Behavior: The Embla can change direction on a dime. notable feature: Sensor pods built into the edge of its wings probably give it surveillance capabilities. and its small size lets it get closer to a target to shoot footage with its lighter. This makes Embla strong enough to carry cameras. Behavior: An offspring of Lockheed martin’s Skunk Works program. In unofficial photographs. and it can send video to a remote PDAsize controller. according to British manufacturer Aesir. fly at 50 mph. Behavior: Its ability to stay aloft for 24 hours allows the Ion Tiger to encroach on the terrain of much bigger birds. estimated wingspan 65 to 90 feet species: EmBLA specs 11 pounds. run through an internal combustion engine. from which it could reach the middle East. once the navy perfects the fuel-cell technology inside. It can take off and land without a runway and flies at 30.fantamag. diet: 100 low lead aviation fuel popsci. which are flown by operators stateside and are in short supply. franZ pflueGl/schieBel specs 243 pounds. forest fires. 21-foot wingspan species: S-100 CamCopTer from top: mcardle productions. it can hover at up to 18. on land and at sea. the Excalibur can be remotely operated from wherever it’s deployed—the mountains of Afghanistan or the helipad of a ship—providing immediate tactical support to Army. Behavior: Unlike Air Force drones. mob scenes Behavior: Made by Austrian electronics manufacturer Schiebel. 4 feet wide. notable feature: After takeoff. It can loiter and inspect the damage with a suite of infrared or electrooptical surveillance cameras and follow anyone who gets away. Fitted with 400 pounds of laserguided munitions. 11-foot rotor class: Hovercraft Habitat: Warships. Fitted with its standard infrared and daytime cameras. Excalibur could be deployed on the battlefield within five years.storemags. including hellfire missiles. the helicopter can take off and land autonomously from a half-sized helipad and fly for six hours with a 75-pound payload at 120 knots.com & www. 10 feet long.000 feet. borders. and the lift turbines retract inside the wing section for forward flight. the hybrid turbine-electric Excalibur strikes enemy targets up to 600 miles away from its handler. It travels at a brisk 530 mph— twice as fast as a helicopter.com . such as deploying tear gas over a crowd.900 pounds. navy and marine troops. diet: JP-8 and lithium-polymer batteries specs 2.com populAR sCiEnCE popsCi. notable Feature: Separate controls for the vehicle and the cameras or payload allow for complex missions.species: exCalIbur class: Hunt-and-kill Habitat: Future war zones. If Aurora Flight Sciences can scale up the prototype.000 feet and watch anything from troop movements to illegal border crossings to spreading forest fires.CoM popular science 4100 www. the jet engine pivots in-line with the fuselage. 7. With fuel packed into every available nook of the fuselage. and check in with ground controllers when it spots something interesting. for example—and adjust its electronics to complete a mission. it flies home and lands itself. notable feature: Its internal weapons bay allows for interchangeable payloads. the Taranis. far faster than its spindly predecessors.000 feet. It can reach speeds of up to 530 mph.800-pound-thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW545B engine. 38 feet long. diet: Jet fuel from top: Bae systems. A craft that can hone its searches requires less bandwidth than those that constantly stream images. it can calculate flight plans. the same altitude as commercial airplanes.com & www.000 feet above any battlefield.9-foot wingspan SKyLITE class: stealth Habitat: Israeli borders Behavior: Equipped with cameras and sensors. like smoke or troop movement. the Predator and Reaper. SkyLite typically flies up to 36. notable feature: mantis is the first in a new breed of smart drones. 64-foot wingspan class: HunT-anD-Kill Habitat: Flight-operations center for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in Palmdale. It can fly up to 345 miles an hour and operate for up to 36 hours. mantis can also monitor itself for damage—a sputtering engine. At the end of the mission. providing a bird’s-eye view of enemy terrain and movement. General atomics aeronautical systems class: autonomous .fantamag. it can loiter above a target for nearly 20 hours. where it’s performing final test flights for prospective buyers Behavior: The stealthy jet-powered Avenger is packed with 3. relaying intelligence data back to controllers on the ground Behavior: All a soldier will have to do to send the self-piloted mantis on a mission is push a button. 66-foot wingspan Habitat: Up to 40. such as laser-guided hellfire missiles and 500-pound GBU-38 bombs. mantis’s maiden flight went off without a hitch in Australia last October. BAE Systems expects it to be ready for sale within two years and hopes to use it as a proving ground for systems in its forthcoming automated stealth bomber. 42 populAR sCiEnCE march 2010 www.5 tons. fly around obstacles. California.storemags.THe FuTure oF Drones species: specs 17 pounds. such as next-gen wide-area surveillance sensors. ronen nadir/BlueBird aero systems. diet: JP-8 feeds a 4. From there. disaster site or border.000 pounds of surveillance equipment and lethal munitions.com 2007. an astoundingly fast development—it didn’t even exist in species: avenger specs 7. notable feature: Fits in a backpack and can stay aloft for four hours on a single charge diet: Lithium-polymer batteries species: mAnTIS specs Weight undisclosed. where it endures abuses such as swats with a tennis racket to test its durability.com & www. a camera mounted on the central hub that snaps a picture once every rotation will collect enough images to stitch together full-motion video. circa 2020. 12-inch wingspan Habitat: Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Tech Laboratories in Bethesda. Notable Feature: “Multifunction integration” —for example. but engineers plan to feed the next version propane. Diet: Today. In five years. Diet: Small rechargeable fuel cell popsci. Bees and other Feats of Biomimicry from top: Bae systems.5 inches long. 2.5-inch diameter Habitat: The Carnegie Mellon University lab of engineer Pei Zhang. It can fly for 10 minutes with counter-rotating plastic blades that lift it straight up. swarms could be helping first responders search rubble for survivors or gas leaks. A tiny flap on the trailing edge of the wing. the autonomous device could be used to spy indoors. the single wing spins around a central hub to create lift. beHavior: The cockroach of the UAV kingdom. With a $38-million grant from the U. bouncing into walls and relaying its location to others.com . batteries. Notable Feature: Ultraviolet sensors identify the same patterns on flower petals as those used by real bees. with more ’bots on the way this spring. feeds by landing on a charging pad samarai engineers can shrink it to three inches and 15 grams. A miniature jet engine provides thrust.Bats. Soldiers will be able to hang these craft from their belt loops and launch them to see and hear high above their heads and inside enemy buildings. lockheed martin. beHavior: Looks and behaves like a dragonfly. Maryland beHavior: Like the spiraling maple-leaf seedlings—more commonly known as whirlybirds—that inspired it. pei ZhanG/carneGie mellon uniVersity.com populAR sCiEnCE 43 www. roBert wood/harVard school of enGineerinG and applied sciences Dragonflies ClaSS: Biomimetic Size: Anywhere from a softball to a fly Habitat: Urban combat zones. Picture robots with articulated legs for crawling and wings for flapping. Diet: Lithium-polymer batteries. controls direction. Army Research Lab.fantamag. swarms of automated RoboBees will pollinate flowers neglected by dying bee populations.storemags. Notable Feature: In the future. Notable Feature: An algorithm that corrects crude estimates of the speed and location of other flies makes up for its anemic Apple II-era CPU. the SensorFly is disposable by ClaSS: Biomimetic Size: 150 grams. collectively building a map of its surroundings. BAE Systems has already delivered prototypes. its only moving part. It works in blind swarms. 6. legs that double as antennae and a body exoskeleton that doubles as a battery Diet: Undetermined sensorfly virtue of its sheer numbers.S. which is light and readily available in the military supply chain ClaSS: Biomimetic Size: 30 grams. If roboBees ClaSS: Biomimetic Size: About as big as an almond Habitat: Harvard University research laboratory beHavior: Perhaps in five years. rheumatoid arthritis. It’s been a challenging three decades. lupus.com & www. most immunosuppressive drugs work by dampening the entire immune system. which it identifies and destroys. the drug had severe side effects. Bluestone has worked in that lab and ones like it for almost 30 years. Bluestone. The perfect immune-modulating drug would target only the part of the system causing the problem.frontiers of MeDiCine reBootinG tHeBoDY The ability to reprogram the immune system is one of the most sought-after goals in medicine. his father-in-law had the sign made for him in the late 1980s when Bluestone was working long hours in his lab at the University of Chicago. Now researchers are closer than ever to pulling it off in patients with Type 1 diabetes.com multiple sclerosis. attacking them as if they were dangerous foreign invaders. is well known. Immune researchers work on a biological defense system that’s comparable to the world’s greatest military. these malfunctions can result in one of more than 80 known conditions. In the early days of his “club. in which your immune cells attack your own tissues and organs. which it leaves untouched. who is now 56. 44 popular science MARCH 2010 www. it reads “Club Bluestone” in pink and blue neon. But more prevalent are autoimmune diseases. According to the Autoimmune Related Diseases Association. however. The body’s tendency to reject organ transplants. The immune system can also be devastatingly destructive. brute-force approach.storemags. director of the Immune Tolerance Network and the Diabetes Center at the University of California at San Francisco. “It was our version of partying. It’s a recipe for anarchy. instead its members are on constant patrol. and invaders. a hair trigger away from launching an attack.” he says. Using processes we still don’t fully understand. though. the immune system knows when to hold back. Measuring nearly three feet across. wrestling with one of the most vexing problems in medicine: how to keep the immune system from attacking the body itself. As the night wore on and their energy faded. turn on the sign and. Bluestone and his . has devoted most of his career to improving on this crude. including cases in which it sent recipients’ immune systems into a kind of overdrive that could be fatal. As of now. conditions like these affect more than 50 million Americans. a healthy person’s immune system is able to draw a clear line between the body’s own tissues.” he spent many of those long nights tweaking an organ-transplant drug called OKT3. Left unchecked. which leaves the patient susceptible to short-term problems like infections and long-term afflictions as severe as cancer. one of whom happens to be our correspondent By catherine price A sign rests on the windowsill in the office of Jeffrey Bluestone. It’s the sort of artifact you’d expect to find in a bar. The problem was. which he and other researchers thought might also be useful for autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes. Eventually. But Bluestone is a world-renowned immunobiologist. inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.fantamag. working in mice. push forward with their research. including Type 1 diabetes. propelled by the power of Bruce Springsteen. Yet the majority of the time. This military has millions of potential enemies but no clear leader. he and his colleagues would turn out the lights. com .www.storemags.fantamag.com & www. the disease could destroy my kidneys. including foot amputation—reduce my life Courtesy Jimmy Chen/uCsF Diabetes Center. balanced state. In 1987 he joined forces with Kevan Herold. One afternoon in February. they launched a trial of the modified drug. lead to heart disease and—in addition to a litany of even more complications. but if the drug could stop the normal course of the disease— which usually gets progressively Until insUlin was DisCovereD in 1922. And now.fantamag. As their research progressed. I was diagnosed on a Saturday morning. It wouldn’t be a total cure. cause me to go blind. That’s where I came in. strange things started to happen to me. is openly enthusiastic about the state of the science: “We’re in the midst of a revolution in our ability to manipulate the immune system. it is the field’s most sought-after goal. There. Until insulin was discovered in 1922. they were thrilled to find that the drug halted the progression of Type 1 diabetes in the mice.” By 1995. the director of the Human and Translational Immunology program at Yale University. I began throwing up. you essentially starve. a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. similar drugs as shortterm therapies to “reprogram” the immune system. and the two began exploring the drug’s effects in mice with Type 1 diabetes. after eating a plateful of food. Insulin is a hormone that unlocks your cells so they can access the glucose in your blood.worse over the course of a person’s life as the body finishes killing off the cells that produce insulin—it would be a major breakthrough. unless I rigorously controlled my blood sugars. Bluestone and Herold were eager to move from mouse to man. 46 popular science MARCH 2010 www. Then he began investigating what else the drug could do. Second. Yet despite my near-constant eating and drinking.com & www. So in 2000. tYpe 1 DiaBetes was a DeatH sentenCe. I was insatiably hungry. maybe an environmental toxin. When my bloodsugar levels came back at more than 400 milligrams per deciliter (normal is between 80 and 100). No one fully understands what triggers Type 1 diabetes—maybe a virus. my roommate insisted I go to the student health center. Bluestone and Herold began to think it might be possible to use it and other. Whatever the cause. I was dizzy and tired. According to Herold. the result is lifethreatening. my senior year of college. My eyesight became blurry. an endocrinologist and researcher who was then a colleague of Bluestone’s at the University of Chicago. I lost 15 pounds. and when I didn’t feel better after a day in bed. a doctor took one look at my list of symptoms and ordered a bloodglucose test. the new version appeared to act like a guided missile. They wanted to see if the drug could also have a positive effect on Type 1 diabetes in humans.storemags. So a friend bought me a stack of books on Type 1 diabetes. an autoimmune disease caused when a class of white blood cells called T cells mistakenly destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. thanks to a number of breakthroughs in targeted immune therapy.com the diagnosis was immediate: I had Type 1 diabetes. Left untreated. preCeDing pages: istoCk colleagues succeeded in changing the drug’s structure to eliminate these side effects. in the winter of 2001. I was relieved to learn that Type 1 was no longer terminal but less excited to find out that. frontiers of MeDiCine . targeting problematic cells in the immune system without handicapping the rest of it. this is referred to as immune tolerance. I was so thirsty that I had dreams about Italian sodas and crept out of bed at night to slurp water from our bathroom faucet. no matter how much you eat. and I spent the weekend learning as much as I could. which provides them with fuel. permanently coaxing it back to its original. that goal seems closer than it has ever been. In the world of immunology. Jordan Pober. and no diabetes educators were on duty at the student health center where I’d been admitted. For the first time since my diagnosis. which most people think is diagnosed just in children (thanks in part to its former name. in red. And how Type 1 diabetes.fantamag.COM popular science 47 www.” (The trial wasn’t blind. which are thought to act like sentinels. For although artificial insulin keeps me alive. Making things trickier still. it inhibits the malfunctioning T cells that attack the pancreas. starving my brain of its only source of energy. That was it. As soon as I was diagnosed. Bluestone and Herold are not exactly sure. that he’d give it to his own children if they had diabetes. everything from stress to illness to time of day affects glucose levels. preventing them from killing the rest of the insulinproducing cells. germain/niaiD/nih expectancy by seven to 10 years. just like the drug group. the paper said “drug. changes that researchers are still trying to understand. began looking for possible clinical trials and stumbled upon a reference to Herold and Bluestone’s work. compared with its possible side effects.com . I learned that Type 1. I began 12 days of daily injections of a mysterious. but in this case. First.) After the first dose. my immune system stopped killing off the cells that make insulin. profound changes soon began taking place inside my body’s immune system. my blood pressure dropped briefly. if my glucose levels fall too low. Conversely. researchers are always careful not to assume that a drug will act the same in humans as it does in mice. (The control group took diagnostic tests every six months. Other than that. but they didn’t receive an actual placebo. exercise and oral medications. For example. clear fluid so cold that I could feel it as it entered my veins. I was desperate to go a different route. which occur when chronic high glucose levels damage blood vessels. a registered nurse. did a series of preliminary blood tests. “Yes. which may affect as many as three million Americans and can be controlled only by multiple daily injections of artificial insulin. patrolling the body and calming down their hyperactive cousins before anything gets out of POPSCI.) Several days later.Courtesy marC baJénoFF/JaCkson egen/ronalD n. my mother. In short. More challenging was learning to live with the disease. and as your immune system kills off your remaining insulin-producing cells. soon the skin on my palms began to peel.” said Herold. I didn’t care. it becomes even more difficult to control. which can often be managed with a combination of diet. can occur at any age. And so on a cold February afternoon a week after being diagnosed.com & www. Much to my relief. The latest theory is that the drug has two important effects in Type 1 diabetes. I saw no external evidence of what the drug was doing. the channels along which T cells move in an animal lymph node is the father of three girls and has Type 1 diabetes himself. requiring me to carefully measure food and insulin doses so that my blood-glucose levels don’t go too high and trigger the long-term complications mentioned earlier. above. My father was hesitant—the immune system is not something one usually wants to mess around with—and asked Herold whether he thought the potential benefits of the drug were great enough. I signed the liability waivers. it could cause seizures or a coma or even kill me. and held my breath as Herold drew a slip of paper to determine whether I’d be in the drug group or the control. it’s not a cure. Even though I couldn’t feel the drug working. who CELL-BOUND Facing page: Jeff Bluestone and lab members. juvenile-onset diabetes). it did. Controlling Type 1 is a constant balancing act. differs from the much more prevalent Type 2.storemags. I felt like I had an opportunity to take back control of my system. my parents and I traveled to the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center to meet with Kevan Herold and learn more about his study. I also had to correct my own misunderstandings about diabetes. Managing diabetes is exhausting and constant. Why this happens. The drug also appears to increase the number of a different population of immune cells called regulatory T cells. As I later found out. I returned to the clinic every few months for follow-up testing. insulin production had been preserved in nine out of the 12 drug recipients. Ideally.com . The success of anti-CD3 represented the first one-time treatment with minimal side effects that had been shown to stop the progression of Type 1 diabetes in humans. the newly beefed-up population of regulatory T cells is better able to hold them in check. in a convenient. as now. The research community welcomed the news. the drug changes the way the cells function—and. the insulinproducing cells that a Type 1 diabetic’s immune system kills off.” says Teodora Staeva. What’s more. then. but when they malfunction they are a main component of autoimmune diseases. activities and insulin doses. The theory is that after the drug regimen is finished and the problematic T cells start to recover.com & www. several other subjects were actually making more insulin than they were when they were diagnosed. below. and whereas most people in the control group slowly lost their remaining ability to produce insulin.fantamag.frontiers of MeDiCine MICROMACHINES At right. compared with two out of 12 people in the control group. But the fact that I have any ability to make insulin means that my disease is probably easier for me to control than it would have been had I not participated in the trial. From top: astriD anD hanns-FrieDer miChler/photo researChers. I pay fastidious attention to my meals.storemags. lymphocytes attack infected cells. “There was a lot of enthusiasm about the findings and their implications. my level of production didn’t just stay steady—it increased. Bluestone’s drug is what is known as an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. the director of the Immune Therapies program at the Juvenile Diabetes Research 48 popular science MARCH 2010 www. This didn’t mean I was cured. red blood cells and a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte. it seems to be more active against the T cells that are misbehaving. By binding to CD3 receptors on the surface of the T cells. unexpected twist. In 2002 Herold and Bluestone published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine announcing that one year out. eye oF sCienCe/photo researChers hand. If everything goes smoothly. Scientists have discovered immune-programming qualities in other drugs as well. I’m one of just a handful of people in the world who have had access to the treatment. “People finally saw that it was actually possible to make a change to the course of the disease without having to use really toxic immunosuppression. In 2005 a different group of researchers. concurs. And even if the drug were available. an anti-CD3 drug could win FDA approval in as little as two years. “The potential that really good drugs which have been developed for one disease might have such efficacy in other diseases is. They’re currently in trials for conditions ranging from eye disease and organ transplantation to osteoarthritis and sepsis. For example. “The number of diseases potentially affected is huge.” says Bluestone. you’ve got a road map that other people can also use. which disqualified most of my audience. There are now two versions of antiCD3 monoclonal antibodies in Phase III clinical trials (the second-to-last stage) racing toward FDA approval. too—different monoclonal antibodies. Since there aren’t enough cadaver-donor pancreases available to cover the millions of Type 1 diabetes patients in America.com . Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. making it the first approved treatment ever that targets the cause of Type 1 diabetes. Rituximab was first tested as a cancer drug. I was asked to share my experience with an audience of people with diabetes at an event sponsored by the University of California at San Francisco.fantamag. and then when it finally does. After all.storemags. rituximab was shown to be just as good as. I’d need replacements for the insulin-producing cells that my immune system knocked off. against a number of other diseases. “Sometimes you don’t know whether something is going to work until you try it. Because the drug still hasn’t been approved. published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating the successful effects of a second modified anti-CD3 drug in a trial involving 80 people with recentonset Type 1 diabetes. those malleable creatures that can morph into nearly any cell in the body. a very exciting thing. anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies might be more like guided missiles than conventional immunosuppressive drugs. it would probably help only people who had been recently diagnosed and still had some insulin-producing cells left. Recently. The anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies have useful relatives. Meanwhile. it too had far fewer toxic side effects. Versions of the drug are already being tested for psoriasis. For that to happen. in a study on treatments for a type of autoimmune vasculitis (a rare and serious disease in which the body attacks its own blood vessels).” he says. and he’s currently launching a study to see whether anti-CD3 can actually prevent diabetes in high-risk patients. a drug that affects the surface of a different class of immune cells—known as B cells—and was originally approved in 1997 for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. and another one in early development. several years after the trial ended. Moreover. Because they target a receptor that’s found on all T cells—not just the ones that are going after the pancreas—they can have unwanted side effects.” Use it they did. have not only revolutionized the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis but have also been shown to be effective it woUlD Be tHe first tYpe 1 DiaBetes treatMent to tarGet tHe CaUse. if not better than. [continued ON page 82] POPSCI. I think.the advance of targeted immune therapies reaches far beyond the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. On the other hand. each of which binds to a different target and therefore can be used to treat a different disorder.com & www. but they can still cause collateral damage. the typical immunosuppressive drugs used to treat the disease. but it has since been approved for rheumatoid arthritis and has shown promise in other kinds of autoimmune diseases. Herold and Bluestone continued their research. which act outside the cells to inhibit inflammation. my diabetes has not been cured. the fact that anti-CD3 isn’t totally precise means that it can be used for a variety of diseases other than diabetes. and they’re thought to hold promise for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis as well. I meant for my story to be inspiring—I’m still making insulin! Look at how great clinical research trials can be!—but instead I ended up feeling like a jerk. Like many of these precisely targeted treatments. who is known for being cautious with his optimism. But although I’m fortunate to have gotten the drug. including multiple sclerosis. such as reducing people’s resistance to opportunistic infections. these replacements would most likely come from stem cells. The volume of cells I’d need is quite small—a teaspoon’s worth would do—and they could be transplanted via injection in a simple outpatient procedure. tumor necrosis factor antagonists. led by the French diabetes researcher Lucienne Chatenoud. Last summer Herold began a follow-up study including some of the participants in my trial group. Mario Ehlers.” Herold says. plenty of excitement has focused on rituximab (the “mab” stands for monoclonal antibodies). Foundation International. helped in part by backing from the pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline. deputy director of the clinicaltrials group at the Immune Tolerance Network. It was as if I’d walked into a room full of people who had lost their life savings and bragged about how I’d won the lottery.COM popular science 49 www. With additional studies.” Within the decade. today at least six of the participants’ vision has improved such that they are no longer considered legally blind. she says. received an injection in only one eye (they left the other eye alone as a control). and they look promising By corey Binns illustrations by John Macneill RestoRing sight Challenge: A genetic disease degrades sight in children and blinds them by adulthood. She hopes it comes soon—the new genes can’t help once all the retinal cells have died: “It’s an emotional race for all of us. ranging in age from eight to 33 years old—”I was the oldest. Now doctors are turning to unorthodox methods to solve some of medicine’s most intractable challenges. Bennett is currently applying for additional funding for a larger trial and to finish treating her first 12 patients. such as retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration. Bennett and her colleagues hope to continue to test the LCA gene therapy in both eyes of younger patients.’ ” This spring.com & www. Four months later. Morehouse has Leber’s congenital amaurosis. The 45-year-old mother of three knew that.fantamag. For most sufferers. a molecular geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. But a couple of weeks after doctors injected one eye with new genes. Without the treatment. or any other sufferer of LCA. will eventually go totally blind. “We think this could be a platform for a lot of different blinding diseases. But she’s not stopping there. vegetative states: These are among the most hopeless conditions without cures—yet. Bennett says that she could have a drug ready in three years that any retinal surgeon could administer to cure LCA. like the other patients in the first study. raDiCal Cure: Replace the defective genes with healthy ones. she watched her 12-year-old daughter steal third base.” she says. there is no question that she.” she jokes—in a recent clinical trial at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They received a shot of genes near their retinal cells to repair their light receptors.” Bennett says.com . eventually.frontiers of MeDiCine radical cures Blindness. she would wake up one day and her world would be black. Morehouse. “Our success shows that this technique is possible. therapies involving similar eye genes could improve sight in people with other mutations. The early results are in.storemags. brain cancer. Her vision had deteriorated to a brown haze over the past three years. She couldn’t tell the sky from the ocean or make out people’s faces. status: Three to five years to FDA approval Tami Morehouse was afraid to open her eyes at the sound of her alarm clock every morning. annually have the same type of LCA as Morehouse. a single-gene defect that prevents the retina from producing the proteins that play a vital role in maintaining the health of the eyes’ light receptors. ‘Please don’t forget my other eye. blindest pioneer. “but I keep reminding my doctors. Although most of the participants entered the trial with vision similar to the brown haze that Morehouse experienced.S. she could see the refrigerator door. “Call me greedy. Only five children born in the U. The therapy stems from nearly 20 years of research on hereditary blindness in mice and dogs by Jean Bennett. But Morehouse was among 11 other LCA patients. but focusing on a rare single-gene defect is a good way to develop a model for treating morecommon ailments.” 50 popular science MARCH 2010 www. vision begins failing in early childhood. The virus invades the cells.storemags.COM popular science 51 www.fantamag. Rods and cones Retinal-pigment epithelium cells POPSCI.com & www.com . which convert the new genes into the proteins that supply the rods and cones with the vitamin A necessary to form the pigment that absorbs light and allows a person to see.Virus HOW IT WORKS Vitamin A A virus carrying copies of the healthy gene is injected near the eye’s retinal-pigment epithelium cells. the doctors attach electrodes to each wrist that send pulses to the brain. A doctor put the then 12-year-old pitcher on life support and said that he would never wake up from the vegetative state.fantamag. In week five. Instead. The boy woke up six weeks later. with no major negative side effects. then we’ll worry about how it works. He and his colleagues have a lot of them: They wake up 84 percent of their patients from a minimally conscious or vegetative state. the International Brain Research Foundation.storemags. Then it’s Narcan.com . the area of the brain that controls cognitive function. anxiety and Parkinson’s disease. personality and emotion. patients receive vitamins. Domalewski’s first doctor called the recovery a fluke. 52 popular science MARCH 2010 www.S. When a patient like Domalewski comes under the care of De Fina and Jonathan Fellus at the Kessler Institute in New Jersey.4 million to find what makes the treatment so effective. hitting his chest so hard that his heart stopped. $6. Fellus says. Median nerve HOW IT WORKS Electrodes send electrical signals along the median nerve in each wrist. status: Active in one specialty clinic Steven Domalewski had just released the ball when the batter smacked it right back at him. Scientists think this helps stimulate new axon growth and rebuilds connections between damaged areas of the cerebral cortex. patients get a cocktail of therapies to jump-start their brain. With 320.com & www. the main relay station in the brain.frontiers of MeDiCine Waking Up the Brain-DeaD Challenge: Only 3 to 7 percent of patients in vegetative or minimally conscious states recover. increasing levels of oxygen and glucose— brain food critical for everyday function— by 20 percent. “We’re proud of our record of flukes. The shocks draw blood to the brain. Then neuroscientist Philip De Fina heard of the case and treated Domalewski with his one-of-a-kind therapy. the U. This protocol has woken 43 patients from vegetative or minimally conscious states. up the spinal cord and to the thalamus.” De Fina says. raDiCal Cure: Jolt the brain back to life. After two weeks. as well as brain-arousing drugs normally used to treat depression. But patients are still the priority. amino acids. a drug used to treat heroin overdoses that prevents natural endorphins from slowing a return to consciousness. he doesn’t get the standard “life-sustaining” drug treatments. First the doctors prescribe stimulants that boost mood-enhancing dopamine. herbs and minerals that decrease cell stress and promote normal synaptic transmission.000 vets returning from war with brain injuries.and glucose-rich blood flow to the cerebral cortex.” Thalamus Electrodes a cocktail of therapies jump-starts patients’ brains. “We want to get results first. The nationwide rate is less than 7 percent. The electrical activity excites the brain and increases oxygen. Department of Defense has taken a new interest in caring for these patients and has awarded De Fina’s organization. fantamag. and kept convulsing in seizures—classic signs of Fragile X syndrome. They were aggressive. After Parsa removes the tumor. status: Possibly entering Phase II (human) trials this fall Mark Bear’s mice weren’t well. while leaving healthy cells [green] alone. so far. they began acting as if they had never been sick. and slows protein production to a normal rate. in 2008. such as anxiety and aggression.000 boys and one in every 6. status: Entering Phase II trials A diagnosis of glioblastoma is a death sentence. reports seeing the same quick immune response in these patients that signals that the vaccine is working. he says. most survive just months. called STX107.000 girls. Currently the only drugs available for the syndrome treat the overt symptoms. creating chaos by spreading nerve instructions to too many cells. Parsa’s plan of attack is familiar: He revs up a patient’s immune system to combat the extremely aggressive. T cells seek out and destroy new cancerous cells with the matching protein signature. called a heat-shock protein. This prepares the immune system to produce fighter white blood cells. affecting one in every 4. they can’t perform most everyday tasks. While studying mice.com 4 . Bear says. 3. Bear’s drug. Bear’s drug works at the syndrome’s physical source. The luckiest few live half a decade. has developed a treatment matching those extracted from the tumor. If it works as well as it did in mice. and injects it back into the patient over the course of four weeks. Isolate proteins [blue. raDiCal Cure: Inhibit a receptor to slow brain activity to normal levels. Now Andrew Parsa. purple] specific to the brain tumor and make into a vaccine. but the cancer will grow back.storemags. Seaside Therapeutics. is the most common source of inherited mental impairment. His company. But when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist tweaked a single receptor in the mice’s brains. stopping BRain tUmoRs that could add years to patients’ lives.com & www. Now he plans to do the same for people. Inject the patient with the vaccine. Parsa began a new study last November of 10 newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients and. he learned that the disease allows a neuron’s mGluR5 receptor to send out a flurry of signals telling the cell to produce protein. 1 2 3 www. Treating the disease as early as possible could extend their lives even longer. Fragile X to a normal range. Antigen-presenting immune cells [light blue] introduce the tumor proteins to T cells [orange]. that find and kill any new cancerous cells with proteins Challenge: The most common malignant brain cancer kills more than 12. 4. train immune system to hunt cancer.ReveRsing aUtism Challenge: A mutation on the X chromosome is the most common known cause of autism. slow learners. Fragile X syndrome. “We have the potential to turn this horrible cancer into a simple.000 Americans a year. Remove as much of the glioblastoma tumor tissue [pink] as is safe. called T cells. 12 vaccinated patients went on to live an average of 10 months longer after diagnosis of a recurrent tumor. inhibits the receptors to pare back the overproduction of proteins associated with STX107 HOW IT WORKS Fragile X neurons lack the ability to mute messages from the mGluR5 receptor. a neurosurgeon at the University of California at San Francisco. The protein overload causes a neuron to form many more connections to other neurons than normal. STX107 binds to the receptor. A surgeon can remove as much of the brain tumor as is safe and prescribe chemoand radiation therapy. leading to an overproduction of protein. he has a vaccine concocted from proteins specific to that tumor plus a ferrying compound. a single genetic mutation on the X chromosome. 2. it could be a first step to treating other causes of autism. raDiCal Cure: Inject a patient with proteins from his tumor. It’s also the most common cause of autism. In Parsa’s first study. dampens its productivity. Although patients may be able to pinpoint their parent’s car in mGluR5 Protein a parking lot. plans to test STX107 in patients this fall. persistent cancer the same way a vaccine helps the body fight the flu.” HOW IT WORKS 1. manageable chronic disease. DISCONNE ViTal siGns Your cellphone does not in itself cause cancer.com & www.fantamag. But in the daily sea of radiation we all travel.storemags. 54 popular science MARCH 2010 www. there may be subtler dangers at work. using daylight. to avoid setting off Segerbäck’s hypersensitivity.com . and science is only just beginning to understand how they affect you By James Geary pHoToGrapHs By JonaTHan WorTH Per Segerbäck’s nearly electricityfree home. The photographer shot on film. com populAR sCienCe 55 www. How ill? On a walk last summer.com & www. 54. Wolves. and Segerbäck. He keeps limited human company. During their chat. the man’s cellphone rang. moose and brown bears roam freely past his front door. because human technology makes him physically ill.storemags. popsci. Within seconds.com . was overcome by nausea. he ran into one of his few neighbors.CTED per segerbäck lives in a modest cottage in a nature reserve some 75 miles northeast of Stockholm. a man who lives in a cottage about 100 yards away.fantamag. he was unconscious. which is thought to be nearly harmless. “We are bathed in a sea of nonionizing radiation. he recalls.VITAL SIGNS Segerbäck suffers from electro-hypersensitivity (EHS). headaches. But ELF and RF are types of non-ionizing radiation. When Segerbäck is within range of an active cellphone (safe distances vary because different makes and models produce different radiation levels). “We are bathed in a sea of non-ionizing radiation. interviewed by christopher Ketcham “We really cannot say for certain what the adverse effects are in humans. in which the expectation that something will make you sick actually does make you sick. But it’s not the sound of the phone that sets him off. Studies from Israel have also found tumors of the parotid gland.” Sweden is the only country in the world to recognize EHS as a functional impairment. sleep disturbance and memory loss.fantamag. and TV and radio transmission towers. The Federal Communications Commission sets EMF limits for cellphones—measured as “specific absorption rates” (SARs)—below which significant heating does not occur. Maryland.” says John Boice. where cellphones were invented and where they have been used for a longer period of time than in the U. so it cannot directly cause the cellular damage that leads to disease. Once. unknown to him. Swedish EHS sufferers—about 3 percent of the population. Symptoms range from burning or tingling sensations on the skin to dizziness. nausea. breathing problems. Headache. nausea.com & www. CT scans and nuclear bombs—can do terrible damage to the body. mostly in the form of either extremely low-frequency (ELF) radiation from things like domestic appliances and power lines or radio-frequency (RF) radiation from things like cellular and cordless phones. a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and scientific director of the International Epidemiology Institute. according to government statistics—are entitled to similar rights and social services as those given to people who are blind or deaf. It is classified as a carcinogen. Ionizing radiation—the kind produced by x-rays. Phones that are on but neither sending nor receiving usually don’t produce enough radiation to be noticeable. Some experts suggest that people like Segerbäck perhaps suffer from a psychological disorder. the only universally recognized effect of non-ionizing radiation is a very minor heating of nearby tissue. when radiation levels are highest—for it to have this kind of effect on Segerbäck. the salivary gland in the cheek. while on a sailboat with friends. from the electrical activity in the brain and heart. A cellphone has to be in use—either making or receiving a call. which means he has severe physical reactions to the electromagnetic radiation produced by common consumer technologies. someone made a call belowdecks. they argue. through the installation of metal shielding. In extreme cases like Segerbäck’s. Non-ionizing radiation isn’t powerful enough to break molecular bonds.…The biggest concern about cellphones is the evidence coming out of studies in Northern Europe. This sea. Segerbäck’s symptoms and those of other EHS sufferers. Today.storemags.com . but again only on the side of the head where the cellphone is used. 56 popular science MARCH 2010 www. and Segerbäck’s experience has been important in creating policy to address the condition.” says John VOICES ON THE LINE Opinions from the researchers. Our bodies even produce faint EMFs of their own. The cellphone industry’s position on the subject is clear. is harmless. A review published last year in the journal Bioelectromagnetics found no evidence that hypersensitive individuals had an improved ability to detect EMFs. heart palpitations and loss of consciousness can result. a biomedical research firm in Rockville. most scientists agree. “The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public-health risk. The non-ionizing radiation from cellphones has almost no known influence on the human body. and the study found evidence of the nocebo effect in those same people. In fact.” if necessary. These studies are pretty consistent in showing an increased risk of brain cancer and tumors of the auditory nerve in individuals who have used cellphones for more than 10 years. SEA OF RADIATION Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are inescapable.S. or searching for a signal. according to many researchers. or some 250. but the indications are that there may be—and I use the words ‘may be’—very serious effects.” —David Carpenter is director of the Institute for Health and the Environment and founding dean of the School of Public Health at the State University of New York at Albany. such as computers. televisions and cellphones. or that their cases may illustrate the “nocebo” effect. he was on the front deck when. We are constantly exposed to them. This type of radiation is everywhere. but only on the side of the head where the cellphone is used.” says professor of medicine John Boice.000 people. he experiences the feeling that there is “not enough room in my skull for my brain. telecom antennas. local governments will pay to have the home of someone diagnosed with EHS electronically “sanitized. unconsciousness. Cellphones are safe and conditions like EHS cannot exist. He co-edited the 2008 Bioinitiative Report on cellphone risks. because the EMFs involved are too weak to have any health effect. may be either misdiagnosed or imaginary. ham radio along with radar and FM 30–300 megahertz Very HIGH Frequency radio broadcasts. police radar Daily life exposes us to radiation from many sources. air-traffic radar 3–30 gigahertz SuPer HIGH Frequency Microwave relay. (Although the ICNIRP says scientific assessment of the health aspects of wireless devices should continue as the technology becomes more widespread. 2007.” WHaT iT Feels liKe Segerbäck was once an elite telecommunications engineer. the international industry body.fantamag.) Boice points out that data from cancer registries. cordless phones 300–3.com populAR sCienCe 57 www.siGnal sTrenGTH Cellphones are one of a number of household items that give off electromagnetic radiation 3–30 kilohertz Very Low Frequency Naval telecommunications 3–300 kilohertz Your cellphone gives off radiation Low Frequency largely through the antenna when LORAN navigation systems you make and receive calls and 300–3.com .000 kilohertz MedIuM Frequency Cellphones when it searches for a signal. “the vast amount of evidence is that there is no association between cellphones and malignancies. Food and Drug Administration.” Bioelectromagnetics. If cellphones were causing brain cancer. shows that brain-cancer rates haven’t gone up since the early 1990s. DAVVI.. leading an engineering group that designed advanced integrated circuits for prototype telecommunication systems.S. “If you look at the totality of biological and experimental studies. satellite uplink. Finland. the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). from computers.com SourceS: “Extremely Low Frequency Fields.” World Health Organization. vice president of public affairs at CTIA– The Wireless Association.” A host of major institutions—including the U. popsci. for more than 20 years. He was. AM broadcast. He used the newest and most advanced computer and telecom equipment available.com & www. International broadcast. “In addition. 1997 Walls. the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization—agree with this assessment. the kind of stuff only Ericsson and the Swedish military had access to. microwave ovens. such as the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program.” Boice says. an obvious uptick in reported cases would be expected. a division of the Swedish telecom giant Ericsson.000 megahertz uLTrA HIGH Frequency Cellphones. “Summary of Measured Radiofrequency Electric and Magnetic Fields (10 kHz to 30 GHz) in the General and Work Environment. there is no known mechanism for [EMFs] within the limits established by the FCC to cause any adverse health effects. fluorescent lights and the The nonionizing radiation from cellphones has almost no known influence on the body.storemags. and electromagnetic fields vary [the circled number is the median field strength]. Mantiply et al. FM broadcast. as a result. Norway and Sweden.S. ham radio operate in the 3–30 megahertz radio-frequency HIGH Frequency range of the spectrum. The trends are also relatively flat from the mid1970s to the early 2000s in Denmark. He worked for Ellemtel. up to his eyeballs in a non-ionizing radiation bath. The combined effect is difficult to determine. where cellphones have been in use longer than in the U. The nervous system uses electrical fields to function. as a rule you can establish a cause and effect relationship.com . This means that substances in the blood can leak into the highly stabilized systems in the brain. He admits VOICES ON THE LINE “When a nerve is stimulated—say. Ellemtel’s vice president Örjan Mattsson and administrative chief Torbjörn Johnson wrote: “A new problem in the work environment has appeared: hypersensitivity. telecom antenna located right outside his window. eventually forcing his retreat to the woods. . Segerbäck is convinced that the perfect storm of EMFs in his office. we came to look upon hypersensitivity as a serious threat to the company business. a decade into his telecommunications research work. . No one had ever encountered anything like it before. The company dismissed Segerbäck in 1999. His commutes ended when cellphone towers began to spring up around Stockholm in the mid-1990s. Ericsson went to great lengths to keep Segerbäck. “that’s when we started to look into what could be done about it. “The company doctors didn’t understand what was going on. Fredriksson recalls. medical authorities gave Segerbäck an EMFresistant suit like the ones worn by engineers working in close proximity to live telecom towers and high-voltage power lines. you can produce arrhythmias in those hearts and even stop the hearts. the optical nerve stimulated by light—all sorts of electrical activity goes on. It would be expected that certain extraneous electromagnetic fields would affect the nervous system. There was a lot of worry from the groups in which people reported the most symptoms.fantamag.” about what happened at Segerbäck’s lab. while others managed by spending less time in front of their screens. In the early 1990s. Some of my research in the 1970s found that when you expose a frog’s heart to EM frequencies that were modulated just so. the company installed metal shields around his bedroom and study at home so he could sleep and work without radiation exposure. even radar from low-flying aircraft can set it off. Others switched to different computer workstations. Not so with regard to hypersensitivity. he says. which is going to affect all sorts of functions and behaviors. When members of Segerbäck’s group started calling in sick and people from other departments began reporting similar symptoms.” according to an Ericsson spokesperson.VITAL SIGNS Segerbäck’s employers installed shielding in his home. “Hypersensitivity in the Workplace. He noticed his first symptoms—dizziness. We started wondering if we were faced with a modern-day scourge. To enable him to go outside.” which everyone attributed to the new computer workstations. “He could not perform the work he was employed to do.” A new office space was created for the worst-affected employees. All but two of the 20 or so other members of his group reported similar symptoms. Soon. Agne Fredriksson. who managed Segerbäck’s group at Ellemtel and retired from Ericsson in 2006. burning sensations and red blotches on his skin—in the late 1980s. were responsible for his condition. In 1993 Ericsson produced a report. 58 popular science MARCH 2010 www. although his were by far the most severe. If you apply a correctly tuned EM field. headaches. In the foreword. Segerbäck challenged the dismissal in a Swedish labor court and lost.” he says. His EHS worsened and now. He later learned that other companies faced similar situations at the time. we were not prepared. The firm even modified a Volvo so he could travel safely to and from work. he says. When dealing with traditional occupational injury. and medical authorities issued him this EMF-resistant suit. combined with potentially toxic fumes from his brand-new computer. although that information remained internal. about half a dozen people shared this fully shielded room.com & www. nausea. a key member of the firm’s design team. Ericsson closed the lab in which Segerbäck and his group worked. . says a commonly reported symptom was “a feeling of heat in the face. When the first serious cases occurred at Ellemtel at the end of the 1980s.” A year later. you’re going to affect nervoussystem function.storemags.” —Allan Frey is a neuroscientist formerly with the GE Advanced Electronics Center at Cornell University who conducted some of the first experiments showing the biological effects of radio-frequency radiation. I also showed that EM frequencies could open the blood-brain barrier. on the job. “Why are we so special?” Fredriksson remembers wondering. The precise depth depends on the frequency of the EMFs. the International Agency for Research on Cancer. and to try and take it into account in the most scientific way. We shouldn’t produce more and more EMFs without taking account of how people react to them.” WHAT WE KNOW The main source of EMFs from cellphones is the antenna. . A Danish Interphone study of 106 cases of acoustic neuroma. the lower the depth of penetration. That group’s conclusion: There is no evidence to indicate any health effects from cellphone EMFs.” she says. however. Children were not included in the study. . It is not possible to make any conclusions at present about the risks of mobile phones for more than 10 years. and many people don’t know or care about it.com . . “It’s hard to know what is causing what.fantamag. It. the higher the frequency.” she says. “EHS is a controversial diagnosis.200 megahertz. they found little evidence of any head or neck cancers among people who have used their phones for less than 10 years. EMF research entered the mainstream. people worry. the phone produces radiation that can penetrate into the brain. “We have from the beginning made efforts to minimize bias as much as possible. She describes one hypersensitive couple that lives in a mobile home so they can quickly relocate if their symptoms worsen. The Interphone project. “No one can say what made us feel ill.” he says. Bias is a concern for all studies of this type. with all its electronic equipment. none succeeded. Ulrika Aberg. which has over 60 percent of all the cases and controls that the full Interphone study has. showed no elevated risk from long-term A Swedish physician specializing in EHS has worked with more than 800 hypersensitive patients. Interphone spans a period during which cellphones and their use have changed greatly. Spain. a Swedish physician specializing in EHS who treated Segerbäck in the early days of his condition.” Aberg says. to have 16 case-control studies conducted in 13 countries to determine whether use of mobile phones is associated with head or neck cancers. he says.CoM popular science 59 www. Research into the health effects of EMFs started in the 1950s. has worked with more than 800 hypersensitive patients. says the head of the Interphone study.” says Michael Repacholi. including cell and cordless phones and wireless Internet connections. and with the proliferation of computer display terminals in the 1970s and cellphones in the 1980s. was set up to settle the matter of whether cellphones cause brain cancer. Elisabeth Cardis of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. For those reporting milder symptoms. “But many [EHS sufferers] can’t feel safe where they live. Cellphones typically operate in a range of frequencies between 800 and 2.” —Michael Repacholi was coordinator for the Radiation and Environmental Health Unit at the World Health Organization from 1996 to 2006. In this study.VOICES ON THE LINE “The Interphone study was initiated by the WHO agency. Until the Interphone study results are published. the former coordinator of the World Health Organization’s Radiation and Environmental Health Unit and now a visiting professor at the University of Rome. “There is electrical activity going on in all cells all the time. that there is no way to prove what caused his condition. some more than once. “With every new device. so it’s no wonder the whole body [of an EHS patient] is affected. from sleep disturbance and dizziness on one end to the more severe effects experienced by Segerbäck on the other. a collaboration among 13 countries that carried out studies between 2000 and 2005 coordinated by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. The results are inconclusive. to identify and quantify any remaining bias. Aberg suggests removing any wireless electronics from the home. the research really took off. and microwave ovens and radar operate at higher frequencies. located inside the handset. A trip to the hospital. has been plagued by controversy over methodology. As microwave ovens started appearing in kitchens in the 1960s. There are several hundred EHS “refugees” in Sweden. a kind of brain tumor. popsCi.storemags. for instance. would probably kill him. She says she’s seen a sliding scale of symptoms. because cellphone use by kids was low when it began in 2000. when scientists began studying medical applications and radar. Repacholi launched the WHO’s International EMF Project in 1996 in response to growing public concern. Radios and TVs operate at slightly lower frequencies. to escape the effects of EMFs.com & www. But that still leaves people exposed to the wireless devices of others. she says. people who have had to move.” And it is impossible for him to seek treatment in a medical facility. bias and contradictory results. the best indicator of the likely result is shown in the combined British and Nordic country study. When sending signals and held against the side of the head. There was a clutch of lawsuits in the mid-1990s alleging that cellphones had caused brain cancer in specific individuals. didn’t eat well. he says.fantamag. I don’t want them to carry the phone on their bodies when they are on. some have shown that cellphone-frequency EMFs do produce physiological effects in some people.” He argues that research should not focus solely on brain cancer. particularly with regard to the use of phones by children. he recommends using a hands-free kit. A Swedish Interphone study of 148 cases found a slightly elevated risk. As to electro-hypersensitivity. 60 populAR sCienCe mARcH 2010 www.ViTal siGns cellphone use. although only two cases were longterm users. doctors diagnosed Catherine Woollams. “further studies will be needed to confirm the Interphone results. A growing number of studies show that we may not understand the effects of EMFs at all. “What mechanism. even if you live an otherwise healthy life.com & www. don’t cause cancer the way that tobacco does—the radiation might well be a cancer promoter. he helped develop the launch campaign for Mercury One-2-One. “Do cellphones cause cancer?” to asking. and lived on her cellphone. Research is beginning to shift from asking. especially in concert with other factors. He says his daughter smoked cigarettes.” says Michael Kundi of the Institute of Environmental Health at the Medical University of Vienna. after years of closed-door debate. Christopher. a brain tumor of the type studied in connection with EMF radiation. Her father. After Catherine’s diagnosis.com .” he says. especially the ones that emanate from cellphones. there is another crucial distinction to understand. In the early 1990s. There is as yet no proven mechanism by which cellphones do the same. both those who report EHS symptoms and those who do not (although the EHS patients performed no better than chance when asked whether they were being exposed). “There is no dramatic evidence of a health effect. Founder and ceo of cAnceractive Woollams uses his cell sparingly and puts it on speakerphone. had studied biochemistry at Oxford.” He suggests keeping cellphones at least 12 inches from the body and using the speakerphone.” But. he founded CANCERactive. His older kids—aged 14. For those who do.” Seger says of his cellphone use.” he says. with a glioblastoma.” cause vs. very hard to prove a cellpHone HaBiTs oF THe eXperTs rony seger christopher Woollams michael repacholi John Boice weizmann Institute of Science “I try not to exceed a half hour or an hour a day. While most of the rest of the scientific community argue that cellphones pose no health risks at all. There is a proven mechanism by which cigarettes cause cancer. Vanderbilt university School of Medicine and the International epidemiology Institute Boice makes approximately five cellphone calls a day. Cardis says. could cause an adverse health effect?” In 2001. which can reduce exposure levels by a factor of between 10 and 100. a 22-year-old Briton. In the end. He uses a wired earpiece—not for fear of EMFs but because “I’m getting older and don’t hear so well anymore. Catherine died in 2004. Woollams has a surprisingly measured opinion of the cancer risk in cellphone use. “but there is no single cure for or single cause of cancer. one of the first digital cellphone services in Great Britain. we all would be terribly sick. “It is very.storemags. Most experts say there is no such mechanism. they are not expected to settle anything. “Otherwise. “Everything is a matter of dosage.” Former coordinator of the wHo’s radiation and environmental Health unit Repacholi owns two cellphones and says he has no concerns about using them. We may have been asking the wrong question. among the limited studies of EHS sufferers (who are reluctant to subject themselves to hours in an electronics-laden facility). 23 and 26—“are encouraged to only text at most. Even though EMFs are in all likelihood not cancer initiators—they Although EMFs are probably not cancer initiators. they might well be cancer promoters. allowing precancerous cells time to grow and metastasize. promoter Let’s be clear: Cellphones are not like cigarettes. if any. specializing in viruses and cancer. When the Interphone results are finally released. before going into advertising. Kundi and others suspect that radiation from prolonged cellphone use may indeed lead to an increased risk of brain cancer. a charity that provides information on cancer treatments. Are cellphones responsible for her death? “I don’t think it helped. storemags. and design phones that don’t produce them. whereas in studies the authors rated as of lower methodological quality the results actually showed a decreased risk among cellphone users.S. cellphone radiation does have “non-thermal effects”—biological effects beyond the mere heating of tissue—that could influence human health. But a few have. should we study? Kundi points out that according to current research. There are three main lines of investigation into non-thermal effects: the potential influence on melatonin production. the rate of childhood brain and spinal-cord tumors in Britain rose from just under 20 per million in the early 1970s to just under 30 per million in the late 1990s. Youth and Sports has warned against “excessive” cellphone use among youngsters. Most studies have addressed either malignant tumors such as glioma or benign tumors such as meningioma or acoustic neuroma. Brain-cancer studies are particularly hard to conduct—the tumors are rare and can take decades to develop—but they do exist. “Mobile phones add to the problems that bring about brain tumors.com .” Institute of Environmental Health. “If consumers are worried about a possible risk. EMFs have been Ulrika Aberg Elisabeth Cardis Michael Kundi Electro-hypersensitivity specialist Aberg removes her phone’s battery when she visits patients. Office of National Statistics. State legislators in Maine are debating whether cellphones sold there should display warnings about brain cancer. Identify the mechanisms behind these effects.fantamag. “I am far. According to a 2004 report from the U. the hormone regulates much of our sleep-wake cycle. found increased risk for glioma and acoustic neuroma after 10 or more years of regular cellphone use. Study results are invariably criticized for methodological failings. such as toxic chemicals and poor nutrition—may have a collective influence on our health. “The evidence is tenuous at best. Phones should carry a warning. Some studies have also focused on salivary gland tumors. Other developments are also unsettling. he urges. Sweden. The majority have found no link between cellphones and these types of cancer.” Woollams believes researchers should also pursue the possible mechanisms by which EMFs might impair the body’s overall defenses. such as insufficient sample size (many people need to be studied to get a meaningful result) or recall bias (people often incorrectly remember their past cellphone use). Lennart Hardell of the department of oncology at University Hospital in Örebro. the European Parliament has suggested an awareness-raising campaign geared toward young people between the ages of 10 and 20. she says. far more worried about how [cellphones] could lead to a diminution of the immune system.com & www. popsci. because they boost their signal to maintain connectivity. and the municipal government in San Francisco is considering requiring information about radiation levels on cellphone packaging. Medical University of Vienna Kundi dials on a landline whenever available and suggests not using cellphones where reception is weak. She advises against wireless phones and wireless computer connections at home because. the same as cigarettes. who survived a brain tumor.” he says. senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. then. MELATONIN Melatonin is mostly known as an antidote to jet lag. Produced in the pineal gland of the brain. the use of handsfree kits or earpieces is a very good way to reduce exposure.” he says. has held Senate hearings on the issue. POSSIBLE THREATS What. He suggests that the daily sea of EMFs—combined with other environmental factors.Paul WOOTTON direct link. the French Ministry of Health.” Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology and head of Interphone Cardis is not a heavy talker (“I have little time!”) but says.K.” Investigating the relation between cellphones and health risks remains terribly difficult and inconclusive. thus increasing EMF exposure. H Electromagnetic waves from the phone’s antenna penetrate the brain several centimeters deep. gene expression and intracellular signaling. protecting against the DNA damage that can lead to cancer and the neurological damage that can lead to diseases like Alzheimer’s. A recent review of 23 cellphone/cancer papers found that studies the authors rated as of the highest methodological quality (mostly by Hardell) reported an increased risk of tumors in long-term cellphone users. and U. But it also has a crucial role as an antioxidant. “you are exposed to EMFs all day and all night. Citing concern over “continuing uncertainties about possible health risks” of EMFs. He concluded that current radiation limits for cellphones are unsafe.com popular science 61 www. Yet a different review singled out Hardell’s results as most likely the result of poor methodology. A growing number of studies show that we may not understand the effects of EMFs at all. ” VOICES ON THE LINE “In the 1940s. because [power-line EMFs] hardly penetrate into the body. The stress response induced by EMFs at 915 megahertz disrupted the body’s DNA-repair machinery. one of the body’s defenses would be weakened.” he says. which could in turn create a cascade of intracellular events whose cumulative effect could be harmful. shown to suppress melatonin production in rats. While acknowledging that some researchers have found alterations in melatonin levels. Seger and his colleagues found that cellphone radiation changes the activity of certain enzymes. It is therefore possible. a type of white blood cell involved in the body’s immune response. thus making it harder to fix the kind of cellular damage that can lead to cancer. potentially. “lots of experiments can find effects. 24 hours around the clock. and wristwatches in the 1950s glowed in the dark because they were coated with radioactive paint. Belyaev observed a stress response that altered gene expression.” he says.com . on melatonin production. If suppression also occurs in humans. . according to Henshaw.fantamag. a physicist at the University of Bristol in England. DNA breaks in stem cells are critical to the onset of leukemia and some tumors. “It must be something else. a common cellphone frequency. “You can’t extrapolate from a petri dish to humans. Epidemiological studies have found an increased risk of leukemia in people living near high-voltage power lines. with its governments. But cellphones produce regular pulses that fall in the extremely low-frequency range of 1 to 300 hertz. Israel.VITAL SIGNS Cellphone radiation has “nonthermal” effects beyond the mere heating of tissue. . In other research.” Boice points out that free radicals are produced all the time as a by-product of our metabolism. “The amplification [of the free radicals] has to be much stronger in order to induce these adverse effects. to EMFs at 915 megahertz. man-made electromagnetic fields for the rest of our lives.” INTRAcellular SIGNALING Rony Seger of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. Microbiology and Toxicology at Stockholm University. “It is possible that this system could cause the activation of another system. but that doesn’t translate into the whole organism. including gliomas.” —Olle Johansson is an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and has been investigating the health effects of man-made electromagnetic fields since the 1980s. Henshaw. Denis L. At the same time. “The body has processes that take care of them. former WHO coordinator Repacholi says. We don’t know what will happen when. .com & www. In cells from both types of subjects. The IARC now classifies extremely lowfrequency EMFs (such as those from power lines) as a possible human carcinogen. which in themselves are not harmful. scientists and doctors started to realize that the warm and beautiful sunshine actually can harm our cells and their DNA. He cautions. however. We don’t know yet if this is true for cellphones. leading to the development of skin cancer. thereby impairing the immune system’s ability to prevent and repair genetic damage. Stress response does indeed cause changes in gene expression. but for power-line EMFs there clearly are non-thermal effects. Kundi and others. has found that EMFs in the 900-megahertz range also influence intracellular signaling pathways—how cells talk to each other. Belyaev has found that cellphone-frequency EMFs inhibit DNA repair in stem cells. Working with rat cells.” But he also says that intracellular signaling could be part of a more general cancer-inducing mechanism that is not yet understood. prompting them to start producing free radicals. This question is more valid and important than ever. parliaments and authorities. cites evidence that power-line EMFs disrupt melatonin production.” GENE EXPRESSION Research by Igor Belyaev. an associate professor in the Department of Genetics.” Counters Henshaw. though. that cellphone EMFs could also have an effect on human cells and. Belyaev exposed human lymphocytes.storemags. Power lines operate at lower frequencies (around 50 hertz) than cellphones. because the whole organism compensates. has shown that EMFs can affect gene expression—the mechanism by which genes are activated and “speak out”—in human and animal cells. The gap between a biological effect and an adverse health effect is a big one. The samples were taken from healthy people and those reporting EHS symptoms. to answer it. and it is up to our society. Free radicals are rogue atoms that can cause damage when they interact with DNA and other crucial cellular components. There is no mechanism by which the fields could cause melatonin change. kids’ shoe shops were equipped with shoe-fitting machines that used strong x-rays. we allow ourselves and our children to be whole-body irradiated by new. “There are thousands of papers documenting the effect of power-line EMFs. 62 popular science MARCH 2010 www. says Repacholi. Seger emphasizes that the effect “produces a small amount of free radicals. he concluded. found no harmful effects on the animals’ fertility or development. so there is no need for further research. “Whilst it is in principle impossible to disprove the possible existence of non-thermal interactions. “there are more and more indications that [non-thermal effects] must be real. We have to start thinking about it in a different way. In a recent report on EMFs and health effects.” Boice believes there is a need for continued research into cellphones and EMFs. The fireplace is his only source of heat. They do insist. painful exceptions) know not to carry cellphones near his house.” Still. It is everyday family life that Segerbäck misses the most. popsci. future research is needed. Anna. then we’re unlikely to find anything at all. It’s hard to admit we’ve been wrong for so long. in which mice were exposed to cellphone EMFs 24/7 across four generations. “We should never just assume. and that’s wrong. Segerbäck was still able to lead a fairly normal life. from a line of very stubborn people able to survive under tough conditions. .fantamag.’ But. in his affable.” Repacholi predicts. it’s non-ionizing radiation. “If [the IIT Research Institute in Chicago study] doesn’t find an effect. and the studies show there is nothing going on. Today he cooks all his meals on a wood-burning stove.” he says. A study under way at the IIT Research Institute in Chicago. he even takes some responsibility for being part of an industry that designed devices he now believes are hazardous to people’s health. the technology will change and proliferate in ways we cannot predict.” Kundi says.” says Per Segerbäck. the International Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Users (COSMOS). and between now and then. might help determine what. His daughter. ‘Oh. sleep disorders. “We didn’t know medicine.com & www. He has electric lights. examining the effects of EMF exposure on rats and mice over several generations. looking at potential links between cellphones and brain tumors as well as EHS-like symptoms such as headaches.” In the early stages of his condition. the mechanism is absolutely new to science.” he says.com . Not by banning cellphones—he’s still too much a telecom engineer for that—but by somehow making cellphones safer. What is the mechanism? No one knows. “We need to decide now if there is a risk. Belyaev and Seger do not argue that their work proves that EMFs either initiate or promote cancer. A similar experiment. “I’m an engineer. a phone and a computer. “If we know the mechanism. If there is an effect.storemags. Segerbäck is surprisingly sanguine about his situation. softspoken way. “Guys like me were so far ahead of society. His computer and his mouse are both surrounded by metal plates so no radiation escapes. “Of course it’s a very sad thing that happened to me. In fact. But results are not due until 2029 at the earliest. is very low.” THE DISCONNECTED LIFE Segerbäck is convinced that cellphones are dangerous. if any. I am a positive person. was just a child when he became ill. the ICNIRP concluded. COSMOS will be monitoring some 250. His neighbors all know about his condition and (with occasional.” he adds. should also provide important evidence. something as simple as the chat and laughter on the morning drive to school.WHAT WE DON’T KNOW Henshaw. the plausibility of the non-thermal mechanisms .000 Europeans over the next 20 to 30 years.com popular science 63 www.” he says. wrote about physical threats to the Internet in April 2009. to gain greater recognition and greater credibility for EHS.” He is determined. but their power source—a 12-volt battery—is buried in an underground cellar about 30 yards from his house. “we have conducted studies. “but it can only be regarded as an accident. We didn’t think what we were developing could harm anyone. She used to run ahead of him at home switching off all the lights in every room before he entered.” “We didn’t think what we were developing could harm anyone. James Geary. . however.” Another study. then we can design phones not related to increased risk. Radiation limits “are all based on thermal effects. and neurological and cerebro-vascular diseases. far enough away that the EMFs can’t reach him. Seger says. the former editor of Time Europe. and even I don’t know how to design a phone that doesn’t affect health. that these non-thermal effects cannot be dismissed and that they merit further study. com .fantamag.storemags.com & www.www. tricks. and follow all laws and regulations..how 2. Always wear protective gear. take proper safety precautions. you built what ?! TURN THE PAGE John howell to see how it works 4 wheels.com www.storemags. march 2010 popular science 65 popSci.. we review all our projects before publishing them.fantamag. but ultimately your safety is your responsibility.0 tips. 1 jet engine ! The h2Whoa Credo: dIY Can be dangerous.com & www.com . hacks and do-it-yourself projEcTS 68 Build your own 70 miniature megaphone 72 Back up your computer safely and cheaply Theo Gray’s homemade LEDs SPECIAL EDITION THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED PopSci photographer John Carnett stripped a Polaris RZR and rebuilt it with a mishmash of parts—and a powerful jet engine. 000+ To build the Whirl. which drops the rpm output to 3. remained undeterred.650 (the speed required by the Eaton piston pump to which it’s connected). ultimately deciding that a gas turbine was most appropriate and secured a Garrett GTP 30-67 model.000. tires and lights gratis too. He got parts such as the roll cage. In all. a Sunfab hydraulic motor. The piston pump pressurizes the hydraulic fluid and is attached to the final part of the hydraulic drive. Not surprisingly.You builT WhaT ?! [continued from preceding page] The jeT-powered ATV popSci’S builder-in-reSidence ouTfiTS hiS four-wheeler wiTh A ScreAming Turbine When John Carnett—Popular Science staff photographer. The turbine runs a consistent 8. inventor and tinkerer-about-town—began confiding in people about plans for his latest project. which is then connected to a pump that controls a hydraulic motor and the transmission. But Carnett. Fortunately. it took 10 months. He did find a few turbines for sale on eBay but decided that probably wasn’t the safest bet.com & www. suspension. Finally he turned to the gray market of turbine Jet engine hobbyists.com john b. made back in the 1960s. for $6. was used in a power generator for the military.000 and countless headaches to bring “Project Whirl” to life. so Carnett added two 12-volt batteries under the driver’s seat. more than $15. mounted in the cargo area of the RZR with a custom frame that ties into the stock frame. The 87-pound engine. From there. who grew up near an airfield. almost no one wanted any part of his scheme to stuff a jet-turbine engine in a Polaris RZR all-terrain vehicle. along with some other parts.fantamag. A control stick installed in a box between the seats runs the Sunfab motor and acts as a handcontrolled accelerator. wheels. he found few allies. a pulley mounted on the motor spins a threeinch-wide Gates transmission belt and a pulley connected to the input shaft of the RZR’s stock gearbox.000 rpm at an output shaft mated to the gear-reduction box. And getting the other parts together was a feat in itself.storemags. His early attempts to procure a jet by calling manufacturers proved futile. All those parts connect to the turbine. The turbine requires 24 volts to jolt it into action. He also had to spend hours on the phone with anyone he thought could help propel his invention to the next Hydro crossover Air filter Hydro tank Hydro hoses Gear-reductionbox oil pump Gear-reductionbox oil cooler p TimE: 10 months p coST: $15. When he told them of his idea to put the engine in a land-based vehicle. they inevitably hung up. carnett hoW iT Works . 66 popular science march 2010 www. Carnett replaced the RZR’s original engine with a gas turbine connected to a custom gear-reduction box. Polaris donated the RZR out of curiosity to see what would become of it in Carnett’s workshop. 5 hear The sTorY Rest your eyes and have books read to you for a change. step. Six weeks after an initial test run that took him all of 20 feet from his driveway.000-title library by donating your own voice. where volunteers record chapters of books and post them on the Web for anyone to hear. —cassandra clawson how 2. but the Whirl’s gas turbine reaches maximum power in seconds and stays at that level all the time. Then cash your credits in for any of the more than four million books available from other members. Post titles you’re willing to give away and earn credits when other users take them. Search for books you own. half expecting to get arrested. it isn’t much faster than a stock RZR. and it roars at a rock-concert noise level of about 114 decibels. and the iTunes look-alike fills in author and publisher information and provides synopses. . There are several levels of membership. have a fire extinguisher at the ready. like the time he used the wrong hydraulic fluid. the site has no late fees and no cranky librarians to shush you. Next he took the Whirl out to the woods to let it roam in its natural habitat. And the vehicle does some other things a stock model doesn’t: require the driver to don ear protection. The beast gets seven miles to the gallon on a mixture of three gallons of regular gas to one gallon of diesel.com/whirl. All the books are in the public domain. Eventually someone instructed him to use automatic-transmission fluid instead because it’s much thinner and better suited to a jet engine. 4 borroW from top: john b. you can print a mailing label from the site—just pay the postage and pop it in a mailbox. Topping out at just over 60 mph. Share your favorites and see what others are reading to keep apprised of new releases or old titles you may have missed.0 5 Things You can do online . go to popsci.org. Stay home and rent books Netflix-style with BookSwim. When one of your listings is requested.com. carnett. the social network for bookworms. and join online discussion groups. reviews and citations. causing the starter motor to blow up. including three books at a time for $24 a month and the 11-at-a-time $60 Devout Reader plan. so there’s no digital-rights mumbo-jumbo to worry about. 3 socialize AT THE CONTROLS The view from the Whirl’s driver’s seat Join Shelfari. so it can get up to its top speed almost instantly even from a dead stop. the Whirl can reach its top speed in an instant.com. get recommendations from people with similar tastes.—amanda Schupak popSci. at no charge. .For more photos and video of the Whirl. You can rate your reads. if you’re A book loVer 1 make Trades Get free books at PaperBackSwap. You can also add to the nearly 3.com popular science 67 www. Best of all.com. and wear a flame-resistant Nomex suit.com.com & www. “I would go through 20 or 30 days at a time of total failure. john howell ZERO TO SIXTY Maintaining 100 percent power all the time. The site also lets you keep track of books you’ve lent to friends. Carnett fixed the design and found himself driving five miles around his Philadelphia hometown.” Carnett says.storemags. Download free audio books at LibriVox.fantamag.com . 2 Track Your sTaTs Build an online catalog of your collection at BookBump. press both switches simultaneously to activate the megaphone.fantamag. assemble the mic preamp kit [A] per the instructions on sparkfun. Instead of silently fuming the next time you’re stuck in traffic behind some attention-deficient driver who fails to move when the light turns green. YOu pOlITelY remInD HIm TO mOve. download our schematic circuit diagram at popsci. . attach a wire between the second pole of the switch and the 12-volt power-supply pin. 2 3 4 5 embarrasseD.—Dave Prochnow get tHat guy aHead of you to move it! a d B c a compact diy megaphone p time: 5 hours p cost: $47. and install fresh batteries. YOu prOceeD THrOugH THe InTersecTIOn cOnTenTeDlY.how 2. 68 popular science MarCh 2010 PoPSCI. pressing this switch will fire up the amplifier.01 p easy hard 1 usIng YOur megapHOne.storemags. photograph: brian klutch YOu’re In a HurrY. He’ll definitely get the message. and the negative lead to the amp’s gnd pins. which combines the output of the two two-watt channels that are inside the integrated circuit. He geTs THe message anD HITs THe gas.com/megaphone. It won’t deafen anyone. but it can provide a step up to more than twice your normal speaking volume. you don’t have to be on the road to use it—the megaphone comes in handy anywhere you find yourself needing to send a message loud and clear. insert all the components into the project box. and its red lead to one spst switch [C].com. adjust the potentiometer for optimal voice quality and volume.com & www. just give him a friendly yet firm word of encouragement through your DIY megaphone. The device projects your voice using a small microphone connected to a preamplifier and boosted with a power-amplifier circuit. connect the speaker. pressing this switch will activate the microphone. wire the positive lead from the eight-aa-battery holder’s clip to the second spst switch [D].0 buildit Raise YouR Voice Make sure you get heard with a coMpact hoMebuilt Megaphone Here’s a project sure to head off your road rage.com peter mcdonnell/linda de moreta represents. connect the nine-volt-battery clip’s black lead to the mic preamp’s gnd pin. wire the second pole of the spst switch to the on/off pin for the mic preamp kit.CoM www. buT THe car In frOnT Of YOu wOn’T buDge. Of course. build the power amplifier [B]. com .com & www.storemags.www.fantamag. how 2. a device that allows electricity to flow in only one direction. and measure it.com mike walker although we’ve long seen leDs glow. Green. Science is full of things you can see with your own eyes yet for which.CoM popular science together2010 to create a higher voltage. a compass needle always points north. and why does it point north? No one knows. so it really is a light-emitting diode.—Theodore Gray CRYSTAL METHOD Large silicon carbide crystals like this (sometimes available for sale on eBay) grow inside blast furnaces from a combination of the silica lining and the carbon in the coke that fires the furnace. describe it. not exactly sandpaper. This is not a spark.00 the achTunG Do not connect multiple batteriesMonth battery can overheat if you short it out by touching the two needles together for too long. You might know this happens because the Earth’s magnetic field is oriented roughly along its axis of spin. and you could have any kind you wanted as long as it was dim and red.com & www. but blue LEDs didn’t debut until 1989.fantamag. If you touch two needles to the surface of a crystal of silicon carbide and run electricity through them. to design one with just the right electrical properties to create usable light. Jr. and the needles on the surface create a diode. The first commercially practical LEDs didn’t arrive until a quantummechanical model for semiconductors allowed engineer Nick Holonyak. But why does the Earth have a magnetic field. there is no satisfactory explanation.. you will sometimes see a very faint colored glow. discovered in 1907. included blue—and were made of sandpaper. . but the same material as a lot of sandpaper uses. Well. we haven’t always known why it happens BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL A nine-volt battery creates a tiny patch of blue light in a silicon carbide crystal. Also. So it may surprise you that the first LEDs. even today.storemags. No one had a clue. synthetic silicon carbide (carborundum). it’s the same electroluminescent effect that drives all LEDs.0 how 2.0 Gray A Light Mystery MaTTer The first light-emitting diodes went on sale in 1962. Silicon carbide is a semiconductor. but we can’t explain it. 70 popular science March 2010 PoPSCI. www. We can see it. he published a short paper asking if anyone else had seen this and could explain it. For instance. yellow and orange came next. When radio-development pioneer Henry Joseph Round noticed this glow in 1907. www.com .fantamag.storemags.com & www. com) and MozyHome (mozy. Fortunately. www. RICK BROIDA writes the blog The Cheapskate (cnet. give that same data a safe haven online. the software works in the back- geek ground to continually keep your backup version up to date. which will make a full-system backup that you can restore in the event of a meltdown. you can even run it manually anytime. Start by leveraging the other computers in your house. you should invest in an external hard drive that’s at least as large as the drive inside your PC.fantamag.0 When it comes to preserving your data.live.com) will sync selected folders on your system.com thereddress. Got a question? Send it to uS at h20@bonniercorp. Just choose the data you want to protect. Backup services like Carbonite (carbonite.com).com & www. Next.uk What’s the safest and cheapest Way to back up my computer? . if you’re constantly updating your data. (We’ve seen oneterabyte models for less than $100. most of them are cheap—or free.how 2. You can schedule the program to run at regular times you designate or.com/cheapskate) and is co-author of How to Do Everything: Palm Pre. Your safest ask a bet is actually to employ multiple methods. and get on with your life. Microsoft’s free Windows Live Sync tool (sync. with any other computer(s) you own. Finally.storemags.com.co. automatically or on-demand. unlimited storage space for around $55 per year.com) provide secure. there’s no such thing as overkill.) Then pair it with a backup utility like Macrium Reflect Free Edition (macrium. storemags.com .com & www.www.fantamag. storemags. he decided to mod his laptop with potentiometers.com & www. Stick strip on the back of the bottle and the connecting strip on the wall. Hang connect the phone’s power cable through the bottle’s neck and into a wall outlet. PROJECT OF THE MONTH the hack-a-sketch conditioner bottle.com from left: Brian klutch (3).fantamag. a picture-hanging 2. the free PC decrapifier software (pcdecrapifier.0 So you never wonder where you threw your phone down off the bottom of 1. if you’re unsure of whether to get rid of an app.com.com. www. the bottle. have an idea for a 5-minute project? WINDOWS APP OF THE MONTH Send it to uS at h20@bonniercorp. Now a 39-year-old software engineer. courtesy michael krumpus.how 2. *originally posted by Mauricio Galindocohen on instructables.com a cellphone Wall dock* . and 3. and the method of erasing is the same too—all he has to do is shake the computer. For more details.com) finds the extraneous programs that commonly clog up new systems and gives you a list for simple removal. As a kid. and cut a piece off the side of the bottle the size of your phone. go to nootropicdesign. He turns the two knobs to create a drawing exactly the way the original does. Michael Krumpus spent hours drawing with his Etch-A-Sketch. an Arduino microcontroller board and code he wrote so the screen forms images that look just like the toy’s. you can set it up so that you can recover it in case you need it later. Cut an empty shampoo or the pc decrapifier new computers come with lots of fancy applications pre-installed—as well as lots of junk. com .storemags.www.fantamag.com & www. getty images Riley Jameson.” Lava in the hottest volcanoes tops out at around 2. .storemags.com. The lava would have to not only melt the fuel rods but also strip the uranium of its radioactivity.FYI sometimes you just need to know Q Can we dispose of radioactive waste in volcanoes? Dumping all our nuclear waste in a volcano does seem like a neat solution for destroying the roughly 29.com & www.J. broad profile. And that standard is heat. N.” Rowe says. “volcanoes just aren’t very hot. The Hawaiian Islands Send your unsolvable questions to fyi@popsci. (These tend to be shield volcanoes. so named for their relatively [continued ON page 78] flat. a volcano geophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.000 tons of spent uranium fuel rods stockpiled around the world. explains Charlotte Rowe. www.fantamag. But there’s a critical standard that a volcano would have to meet to properly dispose of the stuff. “Unfortunately. Union City.com superstock.400˚F. com & www.storemags.com .www.fantamag. storemags. “All volcanoes do is spew stuff upward. the most explosive type. many species of ducks have feet—and legs!—tinted a bluish green or gray.371˚) that encases the fuel. Kevin Omland is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. like an atomic bomb—not a great way to dispose of nuclear waste.com . A regular lava flow is hazardous enough. What you need is a thermonuclear reaction.) It takes temperatures that are tens of thousands of degrees hotter than that to split uranium’s atomic nuclei and alter its radioactivity to make it inert. The liquid lava in a shield volcano pushes upward.” Rowe says. “I 78 popular scIence march 2010 www. And the danger would extend much farther. Instead. Rowe says.fYi [continued from page 76] continue to be formed by this type of volcano.fantamag. turning that mountain’s slopes into a nuclear wasteland for decades to come. Chicks dig orange. ash and gas can shoot six miles into the air and afterward circle the globe several times. it’s all about attracting the ladies.com & www. We’d all be in serious trouble. But for the ducks that do have orange feet. via e-mail Actually. the fuel used at most nuclear power plants. Volcanoes aren’t hot enough to melt the zirconium (melting point 3. They wouldn’t sink at all in a stratovolcano. so the rods probably wouldn’t even sink very deep. but the lava pouring out of a volcano used as a nuclear storage facility would be extremely radioactive. it was his graduate thesis. the waste would just sit on top of the volcano’s hard lava dome— at least until the pressure from upsurging magma became so great that the dome cracked and the volcano erupted. Rowe says. and he knows as much about mallard-duck coloring patterns as anyone. well. Eventually it would harden.189˚. Helens.”—BJOrN carEY Why do ducks have orange feet? Leonard Domhof. is 5. And that’s the real problem. let alone the fuel itself: The melting point of uranium oxide. exemplified by Washington’s Mount St. “During a big eruption. ” Omland says. what female duck can resist a nicely proportioned set of white “neck tie” feathers? After four years of documenting mallard courtships. Omland found that none of those mattered. gosh.”—b. but he thinks there’s enough circumstantial evidence to say that ducks check out each other’s feet.” Omland says. also known as a drake. Bright orange coloring suggests that a male duck.c. like the boobies. I wonder which ones females care about.cOm popular scIence 79 www. obviously.storemags. have a foot fetish. All they cared about was the brightness of the guy’s yellow-orange bill.” Omland’s work only looked at drakes’ bills. M fancy feet Male mallards with bright orange feet might have greater success courting ladies.com & www. “Perhaps mallards. POPSci. and it’s very well documented that they use their feet in courtship and that females do care about the coloration of males’ feet. particularly carotenoids. such as beta-carotene and vitamin A. is getting all his vitamins.com . they exhibit so many wonderful colors. “Blue-footed boobies have.fantamag. “This indicates that his behaviors and genes are good enough for him to recognize and eat the right food. very blue feet. or that his immune system is strong enough to produce bright orange legs. too. antioxidants that can be beneficial to the immune system. Do lady ducks lust after the males’ green head plumage? Or maybe it’s the blue patches on the males’ wings? Then again. “The female sees this as a very attractive trait to pass on to her offspring.” he says.chris hepburn/getty images looked at male mallards and thought. com & www.storemags.com .www.fantamag. fantamag.www.com & www.com .storemags. storemags.com .fantamag.com & www.www. com .www.storemags.fantamag.com & www. didn’t take any insulin. there’s another problem.” Catherine Price.org). potentially buying me time until researchers like Bluestone and Herold achieve the dream of every person with diabetes: a cure. It’s been nine years since I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. whether from a cadaver or stem cells.fantamag. The protocol. is one of the problems Bluestone is trying to solve at the Immune Tolerance Network. At nine years out. writes about diabetes for publications including the New York Times and A Sweet Life (asweetlife. I’ve kept in touch with Herold. if you put new insulin-producing cells into my body. known as a mixed-meal tolerance test. And even if you got past that roadblock. was the same thing I’d gone through in the original study. I eagerly enlisted. they would probably be destroyed by the same immune malfunction that caused me to develop diabetes in the first place. where he also runs the Yale branch of a network of diabetes researchers called TrialNet.com . who is now director of the Autoimmunity Center of Excellence at Yale University. my resistance is fading. “If it does get approved in the next year or two. not incidentally.storemags. a contributing editor for PoPular Science. www. Bluestone is just as impatient to see an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody finally come to market. Unfortunately. and then lay in bed for four hours with an IV catheter in my arm so that the nurses could draw multiple blood samples to see how much insulin I was producing. it’s not that easy. I gulped down a glass of Boost nutritional drink. This. When he received funding last summer to follow up with some of the original study participants to see how long the effects of the anti-CD3 drug might last.frontiers of MeDiCine [continued FRom page 49] rebooting the body Unfortunately. my insulin levels are roughly half what they were two years after the treatment. And although he is reluctant to make assumptions— “Obviously it ain’t over till it’s over”—he’s hopeful that anti-CD3 may soon go into much wider use.” he says. First.com & www. After an overnight fast. which in the normal course of the disease does not happen. that would be exciting. and I worry that it’s just a matter of time before my immune system finishes its misguided job of killing off my insulinproducing cells. Unless the cells come from your own body or that of an identical twin. “I would finally feel that what we’ve done would be able to have a real impact on human health. the immune system treats the replacement cells as foreign invaders and attacks them just as it would a donor kidney or liver. That means that any treatment derived from stem cells is likely to require some kind of immune-modulating drug to succeed. The result? I’m still making a measurable amount. one that arises anytime you try to transplant foreign tissues or cells into the body: rejection. My hope is that an anti-CD3 drug will gain FDA approval soon so that I can get a second round of treatment. com & www.fantamag.com .• • MASTERCARD • VISA • AMEX • DISCOVER • CHECK www.storemags. Government.com & www.S.com . fish that contain high levels of mercury.SmileTrain. Eat a healthy diet that contains lots of fruits and vegetables and foods fortified with folic acid. beef. smoked seafood. unpasteurized milk. quit smoking. © 2010 The Smile Train. When folic acid is taken one month before conception and throughout the first trimester.org.. raw shellfish or eggs. According to the U.one of the most productive charities — dollar for deed — in the world.. fish exposed to industrial pollutants. Smile Train provides free cleft surgery which takes as little as 45 minutes and costs as little as $250. Be sure to receive proper prenatal care. Diet is an important part of pregnancy. and unwashed vegetables.” Z10031059ZFWY34 —The New York Times Donate online: www. Foods to avoid may include raw or undercooked seafood. caffeine. For more information.smiletrain. and all donations to The Smile Train are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS regulations. pâté. alcohol. www.Tens Of Millions Of People Will See These Pictures And Do Nothing.storemags. The Smile Train is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit recognized by the IRS. pork or poultry. it has been proven to reduce the risk for neural tube defects by 50 to 70 per cent. “.fantamag. soft cheeses.org or call: 1-800-932-9541 A Healthy Diet During Pregnancy Can Help Prevent Birth Defects And Clefts. It gives desperate children not just a new smile—but a new life. delicatessen meats. women who plan to have a child should be sure to take sufficient levels of folic acid (400 micrograms per day) during pregnancy to help prevent neural tube defects and reduce the risk for cleft lip and palate. visit www. and follow your health care provider’s guidelines for foods to avoid during pregnancy. com .fantamag.storemags.com & www.www. psshowcase www.com & www.fantamag.com .storemags. psshowcase www.com & www.com .storemags.fantamag. com .storemags.psshowcase www.fantamag.com & www. com .psshowcase www.storemags.fantamag.com & www. psshowcase www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com COINS & NUMISMATICS INVENTORS & INVENTIONS RARE COIN INVESTMENTS. Our clients DON´T LOSE money! FREE brochure. 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POPULAR SCIENCE DIRECT AIR, SPACE & OUTERSPACE THe from the popular science archives FuTure THen July 1992 AIRWARE: MORE REMOTE-CONTROL AIRCRAFT THROUGH THE YEARS Ozone Drone In 1992, research into the depleted ozone layer required eyes where scientists couldn’t go: 82,000 feet up. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) seemed to be the answer. Perseus, an unmanned power glider, was unveiled in 1991 to search for ozone-killing chemicals over Antarctica. NASA hoped the glider would soar higher than any previous propeller plane. Piloted by radio controls and preprogrammed commands in its onboard computer, Perseus wasn’t subject to the whims of the weather the way balloons were but could still move slowly enough to take samples. Although it never reached 82,000 feet, in 1998 it set an unofficial altitude record for a craft of its kind, at 60,280 feet, paving the way for later highflying gliders. To see the wild kingdom of UAVs that followed Perseus, check out “A Field Guide to Flying Robots” on page 36.—Kristyn Brady COMMANd ANd CONTROL December 1945 The product of a top-secret collaboration between the U.S. Army and Navy in the final years of World War II, Yehudi was a robot pilot installed in various aircraft to translate a ground operator’s radio commands into flight by means of hydraulic pistons. TRIcky TARgET February 1959 For ground-to-air marksmanship training, the 20-inch-diameter Kingfisher drone could fool radar screens on the ground into reading a huge bomber. An onboard firing-error indicator recorded and reported simulated hits and misses. dRONE BEE February 1971 During the Vietnam War, the American military refined many forms of electronic warfare. By mounting a TV camera on the Teledyne Ryan Firebee’s nose and adding larger wings, designers hoped to make the target drone an all-purpose military tool [above], but today’s Firebee remains a target drone. 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