SCIENCE AND MEDICINE | health & wellness || 29
Electronic cigarettes are dangerous !
Advertisements claiming that electronic cigarettes are safe for the health of smokers and their surroundings have impelled many to switch from ordinary cigarettes to these modern analogs . However , recent studies have led to the conclusion that these new products , while they deliver lower levels of the carcinogens found in tobacco , are still plenty dangerous , producing particulates and toxic elements of their own not found in real cigarettes . In August 2016 , American physiologists presented reports on the subject at the conference of the American Physiological Society in Westminster , Colorado , and in another study , FDA staffers tested nineteen cartridges from different producers . E-cigarette vapor contains highly toxic substances — formaldehydes , acrolein ( propenal ), diethylene glycol , nicotine , and others that provoke cancer , leukemia ,
ovarian dysfunction , blindness , dermatitis , and other health problems . These toxins are delivered to the body in the form of a finely dispersed aerosol that rapidly penetrates into the bloodstream and affects the brain negatively . It shouldn ’ t be forgotten , either , that diverse aromatic compounds that achieve pleasant taste sensations for the smoker are also carcinogens . E-cigarettes may be less dangerous than traditional cigarettes , but no matter how you slice it , you need to quit smoking !
A bionic man has been created
The Shadow Robot company presented the first ever bionic man at the famous New York Comic Con festival . “ Artificial parts of the body and organs were presented to our team of robot technicians by seventeen producers from the most varied of countries in the world . Our work-up demonstrates vividly that modern technologies are capable of providing people who have lost certain of the parts of their bodies with beautiful and practical prostheses ,” noted Richard Walker , company director and leader of the innovative project . The 185-centimeter ( six feet ) tall robot performs 60-70 % of the functions of the human body and can stand , sit , and walk thanks to the Rex walking mechanism that people with serious spinal injuries are able to use . The bionic man has a heart that pumps artificial blood and provides oxygen transport with the help of an electronic pump . The dialysis function is performed by kidney implants . However , for the time being he lacks a digestive system , liver , skin , and brain . Incidentally , the cost of the robot proved less than the scientific fantasists had estimated : one million dollars .
A microrobot for the fight against brain tumors
After a TV show in which plastic surgeons used sterile maggots to remove damaged tissue , neurosurgeon Marc Simard , a professor at the University of Maryland , decided to create a robot maggot . He worked four years on creating a micro-instrument capable of removing a tumor . At the front end of the robot is an electrocoagulation tool for heating and destroying tumors . Simultaneously with its work , a special suction tube swallows the waste products that form . An MRI scanner that monitors the operation process will continuously let doctors establish the location of hard-to-get-to tumors and determine their boundaries . The robot will move with the help of an alloy that changes its shape depending on temperature fluctuations . Professor Simard says that the old method used objects fastened to the skull , but tissues move around during tumor removal and it ’ s hard to figure out what is tumor tissue and what is healthy tissue , which is there the “ maggot ” comes in . The microrobot is already being tested on animals .
ALPEON . COM