Ren G: 2nd Post
Topic: Tech
Title: Mapping out a new era in brain research
Author: Matthew Knight
Publication: CNN.com
Length: 750 words
A new technology to map out the brain ha been created. Scientists have created a map, or connectome as it has been named was created to be able to map out the movement of water molecules in the brain, giving a more accurate picture of what human brains look like and how they work. The Human Connentome Project has begun trials on healthy human volunteers with the imaging scanner. The machine looks like an ordinary MRI machine but can produce images 10 time clearer. The machine was created by a German engineering company called Siemens. While the machine tracks the water movement throughout the brain it gives us more of an accurate picture of the nerve fibers and the brains neuronal pathways. The machine is raising hopes that brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia will be better understood in the future and perhaps even cured.
This new machine has proved very helpful in its creation. Although it is not yet perfected there is still great hope for what this machine can provide. Scientists are eager to not just scan healthy patients but those with diseases as well. The poorly understood diseases like autism could be a result of an abnormality of brain connections and it is believed that this new machine will be able to tell. There is much hope for the future with this machine.
The new Connectome certainly seems like it will be a very helpful machine since it can create images 10 times clearer than a MRI machine. Besides autism and schizophrenia, I wonder if other disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases will be able to be studied with this machine. This machine shows how ingenious inventors and engineers can be, using water movement to make images, which just sounds amazing. One question I still have is if the Connectome releases any potential radiation like other scanning machines and if too much exposure could be dangerous.
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