Japanese Supply Spacecraft Set for Launch

Artist rendering of the HTV. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Japan's space agency has been working diligently since the 1990s on an unmanned spacecraft, called the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). On September 11 (September 10 in the United States), the HTV will finally lift off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

Japan's new spacecraft is 10 meters long and capable of carrying 4.5 metric tons of internal cargo and 1.5 tons of external cargo. It is comprised of two segments--one pressurized and one unpressurized--and can carry supplies as well as scientific experiments. The HTV, along with the Russian Progress vehicles and the European Space Agency's Automated Transportation Vehicle, is among a handful of spacecraft that delivers supplies to the space station. Now that the station has doubled its crew capacity, the extra vehicle is much needed.

Dan Hartman, manager of integration and operations for the ISS program, said in a media briefing earlier this year that HTV will be "a major new capability to resupply the station, allowing for the launch of rack modules and external payloads."

On its first trip, HTV will carry 2.5 metric tons internally and two scientific payloads externally: a Japanese instrument to study the effects of trace gases on Earth's ozone layer, and a NASA experiment to study the oceans and map the ionosphere and thermosphere.

The new spacecraft is larger and has a simpler docking system than the Progress spacecraft. It will be flown just close enough to the station to allow the station's robotic arm to pull it in, before attaching to the Earth-facing docking port on the station's Harmony module. The crew will then start unloading the supplies and will move the experiments to the Japanese Experimental Module, called Kibo. The HTV will spend about six weeks attached to the station. Two days after release, it will re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

The vehicle is an important step in Japanese efforts to solidify a strong role in the development and operations of the space station, which is scheduled to be completed by 2011 (and operational until at least 2016). The HTV will be another vehicle that the United States will have to rely on for sending supplies to the station once the space shuttles retire in 2010, according to the current schedule.

HTV will launch aboard an H-IIB rocket at 2:00 A.M. Japan time, 1:30 P.M. EST.

Nano Printing Goes Large

A rolling nanoimprint lithography stamp could be used to print components for displays and solar cells।

A printing technique that could stamp out features just tens of nanometers across at industrial scale is finally moving out of the lab. The new roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography system could be used to cheaply and efficiently churn out nano-patterned optical films to improve the performance of displays and solar cells.

Nano press: This 10-by-30-centimeter plastic sheet (top) has been patterned with a series of nanoscale polymer lines using roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography (bottom). The film is iridescent because of the way its nanoscale features scatter light. Credit: ACS Nano

Nanoimprint lithography uses mechanical force to press out a nanoscale pattern and can make much smaller features than optical lithography, which is reaching its physical limits. The technique was developed as a tool for miniaturizing integrated circuits, and a handful of companies, including Molecular Imprints of Austin, TX, are still developing it for this application.

So far, however, it's been difficult to scale up nanoimprint lithography reliably. To achieve the resolution needed to print transistors, for example, it's necessary to use a flat stamp that's a few centimeters square and must be repeatedly moved over a surface. This isn't practical when printing large-area films for many other applications. "Displays and solar cells require printing over a much larger area and then cutting it up into sheets," says Jay Guo, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. "You have to do it in a continuous fashion."

To solve this problem, Guo developed a stamp that can be used for roll-to-roll nanoimprinting over large areas. His setup uses a polymer mold wrapped around a rolling cylinder to press a pattern into a material called a resist that sits on top of either a rigid glass backing or a polymer one. To make the finished component, the pattern is then fixed by a flash of ultraviolet light. The process, described in the journal ACS Nano,can be done continuously at a rate of a meter per minute, and Guo says he's used it to print features as small as 50 nanometers over an area six inches wide. That resolution isn't good enough to make integrated circuits, but it is adequate for printing optical devices such as light concentrators and gratings.

10-Unbelievable Medical Miracles

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Surviving A Spike Through the Head

Perhaps one of the most famous medical miracle stories told to students of neurology is that of Phineas Gage. In 1848, Gage was the foreman of a construction gang preparing the bed of a new railroad line, when an explosion forced a 3 feet 7 inch long rod through his head. The rod entered through the man's cheek and exited through the top of his head.

Miraculously, the rod was successfully removed by doctors

, and Gage survived. Unfortunately, he experienced obvious personality changes, and eventually died eleven years later after suffering from increasingly severe seizures..

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Man Survives Steel Bar Through Chest

Twenty-two-year-old Supratim Dutta defied all odds when he survived being impaled by a 5 foot long, two inch thick iron bar. Dutta was impaled when his driver lost control of the car he was riding in and smashed into a barricade.

Miraculously, the iron bar missed all vital organs, and surgeons were able to remove it। Dutta was released from the hospital just two weeks later and made a full recovery.

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Implanted Electrodes Wake Man After 6 Years

A serious assault left a man in a near-vegetative state for six years, until a medical team inserted electrodes into his brain with miraculous results. The man, who had previously been unable to swallow, communicate or make coordinated movements of any kind, was suddenly able to talk, feed himself and interact with his family. The man experienced almost immediate improvement when the electrodes were stimulated, and now they turn on and off every 12 hours to give him a normal sleep-wake cycle.

The electrodes were used to stimulate the thalamus, an important region deep within the brain। This form of deep brain stimulation has been used to treat Parkinsons disease, but it had never been used before to treat a patient with this type of brain damage.

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Brain With Leaky Veins Fixed with Superglue

17-month-old Ella-Grace Honeyman was born with a rare malformation of the blood vessels in the brain called Vein of Galen Malformation. The malformation causes high pressures in the vein of Galen, resulting in aneurysms. In Ella-Grace, news reports state that the high pressure caused blood to leak into her brain and resulted in the formation of a potentially fatal aneurysm.

The condition is so rare, that the toddler had to be taken first to France, and then to the United States for treatment। She underwent surgery that plugged the tiny holes in her blood vessels with a type of medical superglue. While she will still need more operations in the future, doctors say Ella-Grace will now be able to live a long and healthy life.

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Four armed and legged Lakshmi survives surgery

When a baby girl was born in rural India with four arms and four legs, she was thought to be a gift from God, and was given the name Lakshmi, after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth. Doctors found that Lakshmi actually had a twin, which had failed to fully develop, and had fused to her body.

A team of doctors were assembled, and they performed 27 hour surgery to remove the limbs, kidney and spinal cord from her twin। Then they re-oriented the girl's genital system and bladder, and closed her pelvis. Lakshmi made a miraculous recovery, and just three months after her operation, she was able to walk with a walker.

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Man Walks Again After Being Chopped in Half

Peng Shulin's body was literally cut in half when he was hit by a lorry over a decade ago. It took a team of 20 medical professionals to save Peng's life, a feat which was a miracle in itself. Unfortunately though, Peng was left bedridden. Then, doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Center in Beijing came up with a plan to restore Peng's mobility.

They designed him an eggcup shaped device with two artificial legs attached to it, enabling the determined man to walk again with the aid of a walker।

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A First-Time Mother at 70

Rajo Devi and her husband Bala Ram were married for 50 years before Devi gave birth to their first child, at the age of 70। The couple, who had struggled with the social stigma of infertility for decades, finally conceived using in vitro fertilization and a technique called intra cytoplasmic sperm injection, which makes it easier to fertilize an egg with poor quality sperm. Dr. Bishnoi from the Hisar Fertility Centre Treated Devi, and states that special care was taken to prevent a multiple pregnancy, which could have had catastrophic results for both Devi and her baby. Both mom and baby are healthy, and Devi is currently the oldest woman known to have given birth to their first child.

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Miracle Through a Magnet

A car crash left Josh Villa in a vegetative state for three years, until he was virtually jolted out of his coma using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS stimulates the brain using magnetic fields produced by an electromagnetic coil placed on the patient's scalp.

Previously, doctors have used TMS to treat depression, Parkinsons disease, stroke and migraine। The magnet sends a charge to the portion of the brain that works to signal the rest of the brain to wake up. Villa, who was given these treatments as a last resort, awakened after 15 treatment sessions. Unfortunately, after a total of 30 treatments, the sessions were stopped and Villa regressed. He was given more therapy, but is home now. Although he isn't back to normal, he is able to communicate and even express emotions.

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A Key in the Eye

Nicholas Holderman was only 17-months-old when he became the victim of a freak accident that nearly robbed him of his sight. Nicholas was playing with his two brothers when he fell and landed on a set of keys. His parents were horrified when they realized that one of the keys had gotten lodged in his eye.

Nicholas was rushed to the emergency room, and his eye was immediately operated upon। Miraculously, he only spent only 6 days in the hospital, and just three months later, his vision was completely normal!

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Man Survives Being Stabbed Through Head

In 1998, 41-year-old Michael Hill answered the door only to have a 8-inch knife stabbed all the way through his skull and into his brain. Michael then walked down the street with the knife still in is head, until he arrived at a friend's home. He was taken to the hospital, and the knife was successfully removed. Hill survived, but his memory has been affected, and he suffers from seizures as a result of the horrifying attack.

Kristie McNealy M.D.is a medical doctor turned freelance writer and medical blogger. You can find her blogging about women's and children's health at www.KristieMcNealy.com.

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