[Editors] MIT Research Digest - September 2004

[MIT News Office]

MIT RESEARCH DIGEST - September 2004

A monthly tip-sheet for journalists of recent research
advances at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For the latest MIT research news, go to
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/research.html

For more information or for available photos contact:
Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office
Phone: (617) 258-5402 * thomson at mit.edu

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IN THIS ISSUE: Ying-Yang of Ginseng  *  Bye-Bye Needles
The Adaptable Brain  *  I-Neighbors  *  Soldiers' Burdens
Laser Link to Mars
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YIN-YANG OF GINSENG
In work that emphasizes the need for stronger regulations of herbal 
drugs, an international team of MIT scientists and colleagues has 
unraveled the yin and the yang of ginseng, or why the popular 
alternative medicine can have two entirely different, opposing 
effects on the body. Chemical fingerprints of four different 
varieties of ginseng show that each has different proportions of two 
key ingredients. Additional studies showed that a preponderance of 
one ingredient has positive effects on the growth of blood vessels; 
more of the other tips the scale the other way. Further, the team 
found that the way ginseng extracts are processed can also alter the 
compositional ratio.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/ginseng.html

BYE-BYE NEEDLES
Fear of needles could become a thing of the past. A painkilling 
device approved by the FDA could offer relief to children and adults 
who hate the sharp stab of pain that comes with needles and IVs. The 
medical device uses an ultrasonic method created by MIT researchers 
to make skin temporarily more permeable. A painless 15-second 
treatment by the new device, followed by an application of lidocaine 
cream, will anesthetize the skin in five minutes. "Its wonderful to 
see the research we did at MIT get to the point where it can help 
people and relieve pain," said Robert Langer, a professor of chemical 
and biomedical engineering, who developed the device along with 
colleagues.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/sonoprep.html

THE ADAPTABLE BRAIN
Mice "rewired" to receive visual cues in the hearing region of their 
brains learned to respond to a fear-inducing flashing light as if 
they had heard it instead of seen it, researchers from MIT's Picower 
Center for Learning and Memory report. This research shows that even 
the adult brain is far more plastic, or adaptable, than previously 
believed. If extended to humans, this may mean that in the future, 
individuals with brain damage from aging, disease or injury may be 
able to have stimuli from the outside world routed in new ways to 
major brain structures. The research is the result of a collaboration 
between the laboratories of MIT Professor Mriganka Sur, head of the 
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Susumu Tonegawa, 
director of the Picower Center and professor of biology.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/plasticity.html

I-NEIGHBORS
Critics say the Internet increases global communication at the 
expense of real-world communities. To address these concerns, 
researchers at MIT have created a free online service called 
I-Neighbors, designed to help neighborhoods strengthen local bonds 
and social interaction. The I-Neighbors project grew out of three 
years of research by MIT Assistant Professor of Sociology Keith 
Hampton, initiated in response to concerns that Americans have 
experienced a decline in neighborhood and community participation 
over the past 30 years.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/ineighbors.html

SOLDIERS' BURDENS
A mechanical engineer and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who 
serves as liaison to MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies 
(ISN) is conducting the first-ever analysis of the loads soldiers 
actually carry into combat, using current conflicts in Iraq and 
Afghanistan as his laboratory. Lt. Col. Charles Dean, an MIT alumnus, 
is currently leading a seven-member team in collecting data on Army 
aviators stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dean's data bears out 
decades of anecdotal evidence that soldiers carry backbreaking loads, 
often well over 100 pounds. The research is part of an overall Army 
effort to modernize the individual soldier through technology.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/soldier.html

LASER LINK TO MARS
A NASA-MIT Lincoln Laboratory team will forge the first laser 
communication link between Mars and Earth. This unique experiment, 
part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, will greatly benefit the 
transmission of data from robotic spacecraft. In 2010, the Mars Laser 
Communication Demonstration (MLCD) will test the first deep-space 
laser communication link, which promises to transmit data at a rate 
nearly ten times higher than any existing interplanetary radio 
communication link.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/optical.html