Building a Better Mosquito Trap

November 06, 2009

UC Davis scientists who have been sussing out mosquitoes’ sniffers have made a discovery that could lead to really killer bug traps.

Chemical ecologists Walter Leal and Zain Syed identified a chemical called nonanal in humans—and, crucially, birds—that serves as a signal for the Culex species of mosquito. Nonanal is a metabolic product of fatty acid, and while it's unclear what its function is for us, for hungry mosquitoes it's like a "BITE HERE" sign.

The scientists tested hundreds of compounds that birds and humans have and found that sensitive mosquito antennae can detect even minute amounts of nonanal. They used the chemical as a lure and waited to see how bloodsucking, West-Nile-Virus carrying Culex mosquitoes would react.

Leal says when they added carbon dioxide to nonanal, the combo attracted more mosquitoes than each of them combined. A heavy duty CO2 trap they put in nearby Yolo County caught around 2,000 of mosquitoes nightly. Leal says synthetic nonanal is dirt cheap to produce and he thinks that traps with it might be available next year. Next, the plan is to test other mosquito species' responses to the combo.

Sadly, an effective DEET alternative is still elusive. Blocking nonanal and CO2 means mosquitoes will find a different signal, Leal reports. He also told me that if he had an effective repellent that decreased human attraction to mosquitoes, he'd be first in line. "They give me a tremendous allergic reaction."

Photo: UC Davis chemical ecologists Walter Leal (left) and Zain Syed in the lab. Credit: Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC Davis Department of Entomology.

Nontoxic Water Screening System Blasts Off

September 15, 2009

University of Utah chemists have developed a new nontoxic water testing system that they recently sent via the Discovery shuttle to be tested over six months in the International Space Station.

Astronauts there have two water purification systems--the Americans use iodine and the Russians use colloidal silver. Too little of either means microbe growth while too much iodine can cause thyroid problems and too much silver turns the skin grayish-blue, permanently. To test the water, the astronauts usually send samples back to Earth and wait for the results. Until now.

University of Utah chemistry professor Marc Porter led the creation of a two-part water testing system ten years in the making. A water sample is injected into a cartridge containing a membrane-covered disc of a nontoxic reactive chemical--5-(dimethylaminobenzylidene) rhodanine (DMABR) for silver and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) for iodine. The cartridge is then loaded into an industrial sensor usually used commercially to measure automotive paint color. The sensor can determine exactly how much iodine or silver is in the water sample. If all goes well, the astronauts will be able to correctly calibrate water disinfection in space.

The chemists are currently reworking their color-sensitive NASA system to detect levels of arsenic and heavy metals such as cadmium and lead in water on Earth. The inexpensive color-based detection systems out there now tend to be unreliable, says Lorraine Siperko, a senior research scientist on the University of Utah team. The chemists' goal is to create reliably reactive cartridges that cost less than a few dollars each.

"We want to make something that’s affordable and could be used in many parts of the world, especially where they have limited resources," Siperko says. "We want to make it easy, so you don’t have to be an astronaut."

Top: University of Utah chemist Lorraine Siperko has a zero gravity moment while testing a water monitoring system aboard a NASA aircraft. Bottom: Two of the color sensors. Credit: Courtesy of NASA.

Wide Angle: VillageReach Takes Medicine the Extra Mile

September 01, 2009

Among the 2009 Tech Award winners being announced today is an organization called VillageReach that goes the distance to deliver health care in developing areas.

VillageReach is one of the Nokia Health Award winners, a subcategory of the annual Tech Awards, which recognize 15 innovators using technology to address urgent humanitarian problems. The winners also receive nice fat checks.

Headquartered in Seattle, VillageReach is a nonprofit international organization that strengthens health care systems and health care delivery in developing areas. Looping rural health centers into computerized health management systems is a challenge. VillageReach fills the gap using both paper and mobile technology. Part of their approach in Mozambique involves using USB drives to share supply chain information in order to maintain health center drug supplies.

The organization also works with local entrepreneurs to launch businesses offering transportation, communication, and IT services that support the health system. The overall results are impressive. An independent study this year looked at VillageReach's work in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, and found that combination vaccine coverage among children had risen from 69 percent to 95 percent. Incidents where crucial medical supplies ran out dropped to less than 1% compared with 2004's frightening 80 percent. Plus, 90 percent of the families interviewed had gone to a health center in the past month, despite frequently living over two hours away. Maybe the organization should do a presentation in Congress.

Photo: A health center receives supplies in Mozambique. Credit: VillageReach.

Wide Angle: Paper Illuminates Electronic Medical Record Gaps

August 28, 2009

Paper isn't the main obstacle to electronic medical records adoption, it's more like a symptom. New research shows that where there's paper, there's likely a design problem to be solved.

Human factors engineer Jason Saleem got the idea for his research from the sticky notes on his desk. "I was fully aware that I could do all of these things electronically but I wasn’t," he says. "That got me thinking, if I'm having so much trouble in my office, can you imagine how much trouble a doctor or nurse may have with electronic medical records?" As research investigator at the Regenstrief Institute and the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Saleem decided to take a closer look at paper workarounds.

His research, which was published in the September issue (abstract) of the International Journal of Medical Informatics, shows that medical personnel still use paper along with electronic records for several reasons. Ironically, paper is frequently used because it's more efficient and faster in some cases. At other times, paper is used as an alert when the computer can't effectively alert doctors. For example, Saleem says, at the VA hospital patients with high blood pressure during a nurse intake exam are given pink sheets of paper for the doctor, who sees instantly what it means.

Saleem is currently in the process or taking his research national, working with VA hospitals across the country to see what else he can learn about workarounds. "If they're using paper, then this is indirect or even direct evidence that the medical record isn't designed well enough for that task," he says. "So how can we design it better?" Identifying design solutions, he hopes, will make EMRs more efficient, saving paper and, more important, improving patient safety.

Photo: Spc. Daren Ruby (left), of Owasso, and Dr. Thomas Essex (right), a Lt. Col., review medical records at the K’ima:w Medical Center in Hoopa, California. Credit: Cpt. Geoff Legler/Oklahoma National Guard.

Wide Angle: Artificial Parts Could Reduce Animal Testing

August 19, 2009

Whether you're against animal testing or not, at a certain point other mammals can't stand in for humans. Biologists in Germany hope the artificial organs they're developing can do the job instead.

Human liver cells don't last much longer than a day for testing and other animal livers are too different from our own to provide valid results. With that in mind, biotech professor Heike Mertsching and biology postdoc Johanna Schanz recently developed an artificial liver at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Stuttgart.

The liver was created using pig intestines from a slaughterhouse for the blood vessel system, which was cleaned and then filled with two different types of human cells. An automated bioreactor and pump kept the blood substitution circulating. So far the system works for around three weeks. The human cells come from clinics that perform biopsies, liposuction, and other voluntary tissue-removal. If all goes as planned, this liver could greatly shorten the time required to make and test drugs. The researchers are also working on developing artificial skin, intestines, and tracheas.

Schanz says that while the pig intestines work now for the liver model, if their approach is scaled up then novel techniques, including one called "electrospinning," could one day replace the pig parts. "It’s new and under development to produce three-dimensional scaffolds out of protein and build up such complex systems like vascularity," she says. "This is the future."

Photo: Johanna Schanz (left) holds an artificial liver that she and Heike Mertsching (right) developed at the Fraunhofer Institute. Credit: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

GET MORE OF THE WIDE ANGLE
Fake tissue is so real:

News: Marine Worm's Glue May Aid Bone Repair

News: New Artificial Bone Made of Wood

Feature: Synthetic Skin Gets a Second Life

Top 10: Engineered Body Parts

Video: Artificial Bones Grow Inside Body

Is It Toxic? Bio-Strips Could Tell Us Now

July 13, 2009

Most planet-minded folks are used to saving electronic versions instead of printing or, better yet, using an application that makes a chainsaw sound for every print job. But Canadian researchers just developed a potentially life-saving kind of printout.

Chemist John Brennan and his colleagues at McMaster University in Ontario came up with a way to print toxin-detecting biosensors on paper. Designed almost like a pregnancy test, a thin film of the enzyme--deep breath--acetylcholinesterase is deposited over a layer of ink made from silica nanoparticles. Put a drop of questionable toxins on the paper and, presto, the color changes depending on how toxic the sample is.

A bio-sensitive strip can be made for around 25 cents now, according to Brennan, although he hopes the price will go even lower. He also estimates that it could take between two to three years for the strips to be commercialized. The sensors could be a fast and inexpensive way to detect food-based toxins, poisons, and some insecticides, especially in areas of the world that don't have ready access to bio assays for involved testing. While the eco-freak in me ponders paper alternatives, this is clearly not something you'd want to recycle. However, Brennan does report that the strips can be incinerated.

Photo: Printing paper-based biosensors sound the alarm. Credit: McMaster University.

Lightening Up the Dark Side of Fireworks

July 03, 2009

Every year around July 4, I look at the glittering, smoky sky and a little voice in the back of my head goes, "Hey, all that stuff is probably not so great for the environment." But who wants to be that person? Fortunately, scientists are on it and there's a flash of optimism here.

What's actually up there: Fireworks contain heavy metals that produce the bright colors, oxygen-rich perchlorates that accelerate the explosions, and they produce particle-filled smoke at the end. TreeHugger's Michael Graham Richard points out that firework-filled new year celebrations in China tripled pollution levels there. Eek.

There is debate about whether the metals in fireworks do any real damage. Science-minded folks are quick to point out that the small amounts are combusted in the sky. But it's the perchlorates that make environmentalists most nervous because at high levels they can cause thyroid problems. The EPA issued a health advisory for the compound, but is waiting on more info from National Academy of Sciences before deciding whether to regulate it.

Emily Sohn at Discovery News reports that DMD Systems, a pyrotechnic research and development company in Los Alamos, New Mexico, has developed nitrogen-based fireworks that cut out the perchlorates, require much less barium, and produce less smoke. Greener fireworks remain pricier than their traditional counterparts, but what goes up has a good chance of coming down.

Photo: Micro fireworks. Credit: Flickr user Pixel Addict.

Wide Angle: Seeking Programmers for the People

June 30, 2009

You might remember Joel Selanikio as the guy behind EpiSurveyor, an efficient way for health care workers to take down survey data in developing areas. Recently I caught up with him in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was picking up a $100,000 check from the Lemelson MIT folks in recognition of his work.

During his visit, eager high school inventors at EurekaFest were busy corralling passersby. So I asked the pediatrician, programmer, and humanitarian about the tech these kids will need to develop in order to save the world later on. Here are excerpts:

Tell me about an ideal future, for you.

The best technology is the technology that can be repurposed by the end user. In 1995, if you wanted to put stuff on the World Wide Web you had to hire an HTML programmer. The solution wasn’t training everyone to become a programmer—the solution was programs like Flickr, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Blogger that lowered the bar to involvement.

I’ve seen enough programs where you pay a million dollars and you get programmers to make a system to distribute information about HIV/AIDS. We don’t need any more pilot programs to show that we can send text messages. The system may be useful, but it’s not scalable.

How come I can’t send a text message that says “create group” and my friends can join the group? Would that be useful? Yes. Would that be as good as Twitter or Google Groups or a Cray supercomputer in my basement? No. I think we fail to recognize that many people—the majority of the people in the world—don’t have access to the tools we have. We’re not saying this is the cure to cancer but it would be immensely useful and nobody is making it.

How do we get to the point where this exists?

We try at my organization, DataDyne, to do this in the context of health, but we’re an organization of 10 people. Let’s think of ways we can build tools that people in Botswana can actually use to build what they want.

If you had to write an ad to fill your job, what would it say?

What I actually do is deal with management, coordinate travel schedules, and a lot of mundane stuff. What I enjoy is trying to imagine what to do with this communications infrastructure we have. In most of the countries where I work, there’s nothing like an electronic medical records system. Now everyone has a cell phone in their pocket. Why are we giving them paper cards with vaccination records? Why aren’t we storing that information on a SIM card?

Why not me, too? Who knows where my records are.

It’s like aliens landed and gave us this technology. I think, What do I like to do on the World Wide Web and how do I get that to work on a cell phone? Could you get that functionality on any cell phone in the world? Ten percent is better than nothing when you’re talking about life-saving issues like the number and hours for an HIV clinic. The field is wide open. The difficult part is figuring out how to get money to do that on the phone and get money to continue.

You’re used to doing a lot with very little. Are you MacGyver?

[Laughs] No, no, no.

Are you sure?

Actually once, you know those cable locks that connect to your laptop? I was driving across rural Kenya and the muffler fell and was dragging below the vehicle. I had to crawl under the vehicle and use the cable lock with a knife to tie up the muffler. But most of what I do is not on the fly.

Photo: Selanikio takes the wheel during a DataDyne trip to Amboseli, Kenya. Credit: Joel Selanikio, used with permission.

The Solaqua Lets the Light Shine In

June 03, 2009

You know how much I love solar for water purification--tech the World Health Organization even recommends. Now University of New South Wales student Jason Lam's new device is making it easier to get the job done.

Lam's Solaqua uses solar water disinfection--or SODIS for short--to clean up to 2.6 gallons of water, reports Gizmag. Unclean water is poured into the middle, passes through an initial filtering cloth, and then fills five detachable bottles that have reflective interiors. Each bottle comes off so it can lie in the sun. The whole setup can either be carried by its handles or placed comfortably on the head to be transported.

Lam's design was the silver Australian Design Award James Dyson Award winner this week, named for the British vacuum cleaner billionaire. There are still some drawbacks, though. Treehugger's Jaymi Heimbuch points out that its plastic, while recyclable, might not be rugged enough. At the rate designers are going, I imagine that future prototypes will resolve this. After all, the sky is the limit here.

Photo: The Solaqua uses the sun to kill disease in water. Credit: Jason Lam/Australian Design Award.

Introducing A New Variety of Garden Chrome

May 21, 2009

It's an MIT sweep this week: first the recycling robots, now the hard stuff--metal. An associate prof is giving killer chrome a run for its money.

Chrome--the shiny metal plating that clings to bathroom faucets and old cars--is made by zapping hexavalent chromium ions. Sound familiar? It's intensely toxic to the environment and people, and it was a sneaky villain in Erin Brockovich.

Associate professor of materials science at MIT Christopher Schuh and a research team looked for something that would still produce the effect of chrome, which is harder than steel. Nickel alone didn't cut it. So they tried nickel-tungsten alloys and hit gold. The alternative gets harder than chrome and lasts far longer. Plus, it's anti-corrosive, which could save the electronics industry a bundle. That's slick.

Photo: Chrome away from home. Credit: Erin Vermeer.