Health and Medicine

Solar cells, which have powered space systems, are now being used as a power source in studies on brain function. A miniaturized solar cell developed by General Electric provides enough power, under ordinary house lights, to stimulate an animal's brain and to telemeter respiratory, cardiovascular, and brain-wave data while the animal is allowed to move about freely. Such a system is now used by the National Institute of Mental Health Laboratory at Rethesda, Md.

Scientists at the Ames Research Center have devised a new technique for studying organic compounds, whether synthesized in the laboratory or produced by a living system. This technique is based on a property of matter called optical activity. Previous methods of measuring optical activity have been plagued by low sensitivity. The new method is many tunes more sensitive and represents a real contribution to modern analytical instrumentation.

Studies on calcium metabolism and bed rest simulating weightlessness are adding knowledge on the prevention of demineralization of the skeleton; treatment of Paget's disease and osteoporosis prevention of muscular atrophy; the cause and treatment of renal calculi (kidney stones); optimal calcium for the human diet; and the factors influencing calcium absorption, metabolism, and excretion. The results will have great importance in bone healing and repair, care and treatment of fracture cases, treatment of paraplegics, and treatment of polio patients and similar cases. These grant studies at Texas Woman's University have also proven that the X-ray bone densitometry method can accurately detect changes in the skeleton.

A primary objective of the planetary exploration program is the detection of possible extraterrestrial life. The study of the fundamental properties of living things on Earth is restricted to the type of life which has evolved and survived here. Life which has been exposed to totally different environmental conditions may have markedly different physiological characteristics. The impact of the new information obtainable from the study of extraterrestrial life upon the sciences of medicine and biology will unquestionably be of fundamental and far-reaching importance. Advancement in the treatment of disease and the problems of aging are among the many possible consequences.

New developments in such techniques as ultraviolet spectrophotometry, polarimetry, and gas chromatography will find use in the detection of biochemicals and other compounds in hospitals and in toxicology and pathology laboratories. They will also be useful in studies of atmospheric pollutants such as smog.

Studies of the chemistry of living systems, molecular biology, and biophysics of cellular processes will create a better understanding of the basic mechanisms of life, leading to an understanding of both inherited and acquired disease, especially neoplastic conditions and chemical disturbances incident to mental disease.

The University of Pittsburgh is conducting a study to increase the availability of cytological technique in research and as a monitoring procedure by developing an automatic electronic scanning device using computer analysis for recording, counting, and sorting chromosomes. Structural changes in blood cell chromosomes can indicate the degree of radiation damage as well as damage resulting from various environmental stresses. Accordingly, this instrument, when developed, can be used as a radiation dosimeter in civil defense by swiftly detecting the degree and type of chromosomal aberrations in blood cells. Thus, casualties in nuclear attack could be quickly detected and treated. This system would also be useful for nuclear industrial plants and for military maneuvers. In medicine, various disease trends could be monitored. (Chromosomes exhibit anomalies in leukemia and mental retardation as well as in other states.) In space exploration and experimentation, the device can spot monitor radiation dose levels as well as changes resulting from any of the environmental stresses experienced in space. This apparatus can be modified for use as an extraterrestrial-life-detecting instrument by scanning the growth of cells (or cellular inclusions), computing rates, and telemetering changes to the researcher.

Investigations of rhythmic phenomena of various physiological systems can result in knowledge of the utmost importance to medicine. Rhythmic phenomena are found in the cardiovascular system of normal humans. Changes in these rhythms have the potential of foretelling abnormalities (heart disease, arteriosclerosis) before outward signs are manifested, allowing for earlier diagnosis, treatment, and control or cure.

The spacecraft sterilization program requires the use of rooms having the lowest attainable level of bacterial contamination. The rate of dissemination of bacteria from the humans in the room is basic to the problem. Data on this matter are being obtained through support of the Communicable Disease Center of the U.S. Public Health Service. The findings are affecting the measures used in surgical practice to lower infection rates.

Studies on the physiology of hibernation in mammals are important to understand temperature regulation and the mechanism of survival at low body temperatures. The purpose of this type of research is to understand and use reduced metabolic activity in astronauts on future extended space flight. Other applications involve studies of the mechanisms of injury and freezing biological organisms, for improving techniques in hypothermic surgery, pathology, and preservation of tissue for human grafting.

Food and Agriculture

Gathering agricultural information by remote sensing of Earth's surface from aircraft, balloons, and satellites has a potential application in research and development. Current needs for data gathered in this way include crop and livestock surveys for marketing planning; soil mapping; crop disease, insect, and weed surveys; soil conservation management and research; and crop acreage control programs. As population and world trade increase, the needs will become even more intense for regularly scheduled synoptic surveys of the world's agricultural lands for crop plantings and harvests; determining the condition of crops as affected by drought, disease, or insect outbreaks; and studies of the lands suitable for agricultural development in underdeveloped countries. The only way that worldwide synoptic surveys can be made is by using orbiting platforms.

The NASA nutrition program for developing diets for prolonged manned and animal space flight lends itself to civil defense purposes; military maneuvers where space and weight are prime considerations; polar and desert exploration; reducing hunger in underdeveloped countries; and detecting metabolic diseases as well as diseases of infancy and old age. For space research such a diet can be used on prolonged manned space flights, animal experiments in space, manned orbiting laboratories, and space and planetary stations. Studies on the packaging and stability of foods under various conditions of humidity, temperature, and radiation will lead to better processing and storage.

Learning how microbial spores are transported by air is important to biology, agriculture, and medicine. Besides spreading crop destruction, microbial spores produce allergic responses in some human beings. To obtain the facts, not only the biology of micro-organisms but also the weather factors that induce the flight of mature spores must be known. Thus, both biological and meteorological problems are involved. Data obtained under a NASA contract with the General Mills Electronic Division (now part of Litton Industries, Inc.) indicate that spores of fungi are present in low numbers in the stratosphere. A reservoir of spores exists which cannot be brought down by the normal scrubbing mechanisms of rainfall and other meteorological disturbances in the troposphere. This finding has important implications for reducing the spread of agricultural crop diseases and for protecting persons suffering from allergies. This project has indicated the necessity for designing novel biological samplers for use in the stratosphere. Such samplers will aid in determining various pollutants of the atmosphere.

The NASA program for developing sterile spacecraft for the biological exploration of Mars will contribute improved methods of sterilization that can be applied to the canning industry. Studies on sterilization at low temperatures for long periods of time are being supported by NASA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Communicable Disease Center and the Sanitary Engineering Center of the Public Health Service. The developing capability is making possible the heat sterilization of products that never before could be thoroughly sterilized.

In preparing for missions to search for extraterrestrial life, research on the psychrophilic or cold bacteria, on halophytic or salt bacteria, and on specialized bacteria and other organisms growing in extreme environments is defining the extremes under which life can exist. Increased knowledge about organisms that can grow in or on refrigerated, dried, or salted foods and other materials should have practical applications for food storage and preservation. Research on psychrophilic bacteria is being conducted by Whirlpool Corp. and the NASA Ames Research Center.

Theoretical studies of Martian life involve investigations of plant and bacterial spores. Many of these forms are spoilage organisms and some produce lethal toxins. This work has potential importance for food processing and for obtaining more precise knowledge of how wounds become infected. The program for investigating possible forms of life on Mars includes a thorough study of anaerobic micro-organisms. This research has led to the discovery of new types of nitrogen-fixing bacteria other than the familiar types found in the root nodules of leguminous plants. Thus, it may be possible to use these microorganisms, or the principles involved, in the incorporation of vital atmospheric nitrogen into terrestrial soils which are now unproductive.

Industry and Manufacturing

Batteries that have been developed in the space program to endure high sterilization temperatures for extended times will have greatly increased shelf life at normal storage temperatures and will be serviceable after many hours of baking at high temperatures.

Currently, the highest quality tape recorders are subject to imperfect reproduction because the tapes are heat labile; i.e., they soften and stretch when warm. The development of high-quality magnetic tapes for space-data recorders is an outgrowth of the materials developed to meet spacecraft sterilization requirements. These improved tapes will be useful for all types of recording—industry, automation controls, home, and studio.