|
A.
Disposable Hearing Aids Coming Soon . . .
Narrator:
First, disposable contact lenses, now disposable
hearing aids. This is Science Today. Dr. Robert
Sweetow, director of the University of California,
San Francisco Audiology Clinic, says these hearing
aids, which will cost about forty dollars each,
will soon hit the market. Sweetow has been comparing
disposable hearing aids to conventional ones and
says one of the advantages of disposable units is
it ensures against becoming technologically obsolete.
Sweetow: With something like a disposable
product where you're paying for what you're getting
that month and that's it - then if next month a
better disposable product comes out - hey, good
- go to that.
Narrator: The disposable hearing aids will
have seven different prescriptions and can be replaced
when the battery dies - about forty days later.
But Sweetow says some adjustments had to be made
to this formerly one-size-fits all device.
Sweetow: Because we were getting so few people
that it properly fit, it's now two sizes fits all.
They've come out with an additional tip for it.
Narrator: Sweetow is currently conducting
comparative studies of sound quality. For Science
Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A Storage System that Accommodates Ubiquitous Computing
Narrator:
This is Science Today. One of the buzz phrases going
around today is ubiquitous computing. John Kubiatowicz,
a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley,
says this phrase refers to the trend of putting computers
into everything - from cars to walls to shoes … that's
right, shoes.
Kubiatowicz: I saw a commercial
for a tennis shoe the other day that had a microprocessor
in it that was figuring out about high you jump. Lots
of things have computers in them. The question that
immediately comes to mind is where is the persistent
information there? If you have gigabytes or terabytes
of information in a little tiny pen and you drop it
in front of your SUV and run over it, you've just
lost all of that information.
Narrator: In this context, Kubiatowicz
invented OceanStore, a huge, super-secure utility
that would house such data on the Internet.
Kubiatowicz:
Clearly
it's got to be out on the Net somewhere. Then you've
got to worry about security, is somebody going to
be able to compromise your data, are they going to
be able to destroy and so the research goals of OceanStore
really target that.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Hands-on Parenting Cuts Down Risky Teen Behavior
Narrator: This is Science Today. A recent survey
has found about one in five American teenagers say
they live with adults who fail to consistently set
rules and monitor their behavior. These teens are
at a four-time greater risk for smoking, drinking
and using illegal drugs than those with more "hands-on"
parents. Psychiatrist Lynn Ponton of the University
of California, San Francisco, says parents play a
big part when it comes to their teens taking risks
and should watch their own behavior.
Ponton: Our teens really model after how we
take our risk. Whether we wear a seatbelt, whether
or not we're still smoking cigarettes. So I think
parents can look at their own risk taking and really
think about how to revamp that or at least how to
talk with their teen about it.
Narrator: Ponton says if teens are going the
risky route, parents should learn how to communicate
effectively.
Ponton:The lecture status or even the discussion
doesn't always work. I think hanging out with them
after school, lying on the couch or the floor together,
driving them if that's your choice and riding around
with them. Those are circumstances where teens give
a lot of information.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
An Efficient Railway System of the Future
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Railway systems in the future
may have us literally floating on air. Richard Post,
a retired Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist
developed a way to build trains that levitate above
the railway on powerful magnets. Although this idea
- called maglev - has been around for a many years,
Post was the first to use ordinary, permanent magnets
in a simple, efficient way pioneered by a Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory physicist named Klaus
Halbach.
Post: So, on a train car, there would be a
flat panel array underneath the train car - these
permanent magnets in the Halbach arrays.
Narrator: This maglev system would cancel out
magnetic fields above the array panel so passengers
wouldn't feel it, but it would concentrate below where
it's needed. Once the train is moving fast enough,
it will then levitate above a track made of shorted
coils stacked together.
Post: And if the power fails to drive the train,
it would slow down a very slow speed and settle down
onto auxiliary wheels. It's what you call fail-safe
or passively stable.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Do Babies Have Long-term Memory?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Over the years, it's been discovered
babies are more perceptive about the world than previously
thought. Since 1982, psychologist Linda Acredolo of
the University of California, Davis, has been studying
how baby signs - or gesturing - affect cognitive development.
Acredolo:
Over the course of these many, many, many years we
have gathered data that very clearly demonstrate that
baby signs promote learning to talk. Actually make
it easier and promote good cognitive skills - actually
affect I.Q. and most importantly to us and to the
families, make the parent-child interaction much smoother
and more positive.
Narrator: Using baby signs, Acredolo also discovered
babies are capable of having a long-term memory.
Acredolo: So, the baby signs really is a window
- not only for parents into the baby's mind, but also
for researchers to find out more about what the developing
mind is like than we were ever able to before.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
|
