In the News: Blow-dryer Blues; the UW’s Engineering-Mars Connection
Research on magnetic fields and DNA gets international attention
- Two brain cells from a rat exposed to a low-level electromagnetic field show significant amounts of damaged DNA, seen exiting from the cells. Findings by UW researchers suggest such damage is cumulative.
Results from an experiment published by two UW bioengineering researchers have captured the attention of the news media, and of readers around the world who use electrical appliances in their homes.
In an article to be published in an upcoming issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Professor Henry C. Lai and colleague Narendra Singh found that exposure to low-level magnetic fields similar to those emitted by such common household devices as blow dryers, electric blankets and razors appeared to damage brain cell DNA in rats.
The article, which has undergone peer review, is available now on the Internet.
The story broke in mid-February and was picked up by regional and national outlets, including the Associated Press and USA Today, and has been garnering wide coverage in Europe, Australia and India. Lai said he is still receiving several calls a day about the study.
For more information, read Lai and Singh’s paper on the Web.
Read the original news release.
The Mars Connection: UW grads on Rover mission teams
- Adam Bruckner, chair of the UW Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Adam Bruckner has been in high demand of late.
The UW Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics chair is an expert on spacecraft design, propulsion systems and manned flights to Mars, and with the recent successes of the Mars Exploration Rover missions on the Red Planet, people want to hear his take on findings and developments. As such, he has been quoted in regional and national publications, participated as a panelist in seminars and spoken to various groups in the Puget Sound region.
But beyond his expertise, Bruckner has an inside track that few can claim.
Three of his former students are members of the Rover mission teams. And a fourth worked on a robotic arm for a previous Mars mission.
“I caught sight of one of them the other day on a special NOVA program, in Mission Control at JPL,” Bruckner said. “It was great to see him.”
That former student is Rob Grover, a 1998 UW graduate with a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics and an entry, descent and landing systems engineer for the Spirit and Opportunity landings. Being part of the mission operations on landing night was a one-of-a-kind experience, Grover said.
“It was an exciting, terrifying, and joyful night, all rolled into one,” he said, adding that every day at work he is reminded of the unique opportunity he has to be part of history.
“It is not every job where Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger stop in to shake your hand and the president phones his congratulations,” Grover said. “Those of us who have the honor of carrying out the missions for our country know how lucky we are to find ourselves part of the team.”
His time at the UW learning and honing his abilities was well spent, he said. “The transition to applying my skills both in industry and at JPL was nearly seamless.”
Bruckner said every time he gets the latest updates on the Rover missions -- at least once a day -- he feels pride for his former students. Their success, he added, isn’t a coincidence.
“It shows the caliber of our students,” he said. “Our graduates are among the best in the world, second to none.”
Spooky spiders
Hunter Hoffman deals in fear. Not his own; he’s more interested in the fears of others.
The research scientist in the UW’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory, or HIT Lab, is a leading authority on the use of virtual reality to treat patients for phobias and pain. The news media took interest when one of his recent studies of VR to treat spider phobia indicated that touching the fuzzy creepy crawlers can make the therapy twice as effective.
The study, titled “Interfaces that Heal: Coupling Real and Virtual Objects to Treat Spider Phobia,” was published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.
“This is significant for VR therapy,” Hoffman said. “It's an easy and cost-effective way to make the VR treatment program more effective.”
The story was picked up by national and international outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and the BBC.
For more information on “SpiderWorld” and other VR therapy projects, go to Hoffman’s Web site.
Read a news release about the research.
EE students shine in robot rumble
A group of UW students in the Department of Electrical Engineering successfully battled robots from 35 other teams and qualified for the annual national robotics competition hosted by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
The students, who partnered with students from Seattle’s Roosevelt High School and mentors from the UW and the Seattle Robotics Society, will pit their creation servo-to-servo with robots from around the country April 15-17 in Atlanta, Ga.
Alex Mamishev, assistant professor of electrical engineering at the UW and adviser for the group, was featured along with some of the students in an extended interview about the process on a local National Public Radio affiliate.
Denton continues affirmative action effort
UW Engineering Dean Denice Denton, who has led the charge among university deans to allow race to be considered in admissions at Washington universities, was recently interviewed on the issue by a National Public Radio affiliate.
At issue was a bill before the Washington Legislature to amend a 1998 initiative that bans universities from considering race in the admissions process. Washington is just one of two states in the country that still prohibit the practice following a Supreme Court ruling last summer that stated race could be considered as one factor among many.