Modelling Diseases in Dishes

The Naked Scientists Podcast

Dr Chris Smith

Natural Sciences, Science, Science Radio, Naked Scientists, Health & Fitness, Engineering, Medicine, Technology, Life Sciences

4.6 • 958 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2013

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Miniature lungs, breasts and other organs are being grown in dishes so scientists can study how they form, why they succumb to disease and how toxins, drugs and poisons affect them. Organ models like these are rapidly replacing animals for many lab experiments. But are the days of the petri dish also numbered, as computer models, like the virtual physiological human, become more powerful. We talk to scientists using and developing all three. Plus, a new coating stops joint replacements loosening, magnetic therapy for strokes, and plants do long division... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Hello,
0:25.2	Hello and this week can Magnits help improve the language of stroke patients the online currency making the leap into the real world and do you count sheep to get some kip? Well plants are also doing
0:30.4	maths to get them through the night. We'll be finding out more.
0:33.0	Can't wait. And if you'd like to get in touch with us here at the naked scientists, then email
0:37.9	Chris at the naked scientists.com. You can tweet at naked scientists or we have a Facebook page of course
0:44.2	Facebook dot com slash the naked scientists
0:48.6	The Naked Scientists podcast is powered by UKfast.co.uk.
0:54.0	And let's kick off with a look at this week's science news headlines and up first I've got an item about joint replacements
1:07.2	things like hip replacements knee replacements. These are big business
1:10.9	millions of them take place around the world every week,
1:14.0	but the reality is that we have a bit of a problem with them,
1:17.0	because over time they loosen.
1:19.0	This means that by about a decade in,
1:22.0	roughly 12% of them have had to be revised surgically
1:25.2	because they have come loose or develop problems.
1:28.4	At the moment, the way in which joint replacements are stuck into the bone is by using
1:32.3	a sort of cement and it's called PMMA that stands for
1:35.1	polymethal methacrylate and this has a number of issues because it has a different elasticity
1:41.0	to bone and this means that when a bone is loaded or bends a little
1:44.9	tiny bit the cement that's holding the prosthesis in bends by a different amount
1:51.0	and this encourages the two-part company or fracture and over time
1:55.6	this causes the prosthesis to loosen. So is there a better way of doing things?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr Chris Smith, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dr Chris Smith and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.