Future surgeries increasingly likely to be carried out by Dr. Bot and co.
Q. When a herd of bison decide to move, what direction do they go off in? Is it a democratic decision in the making?
A. Actually, it seems that “European bison operate by majority rule,” says ecologist Amandine Ramos of the French National Center for Scientific Research. After observing a bison herd for three months, he concluded that individual bison “cast a vote” for the direction they’d like to take by orienting their bodies, as reported by Jason Goldman in “Scientific American” magazine. If one bison advances in the direction preferred by most herd members, the group follows. But if the initiator chooses a less popular option, the group might split up, to reassemble later. Frequent leaders, Ramos found, are adult females. “In essence, the initiator with the most votes wins and ends up leading most of the herd.”
Since bison have been known to raid farm crops, wildlife managers might use this information to outfit individual bison leaders with collars that deliver a mild shock, thus effectively controlling an entire herd and reducing conflict. Concludes Goldman: “Democracy, or at least a form of it, is not unique to Homo sapiens americanus.”
Q. What is it about the sights and sounds of the sea that can be so relaxing at times?
A. “Lulling” might be a good word for it, as the water drowns out noises and voices around us, creating a “cone of privacy” that serves to focus our thoughts, writes “New Scientist” reader Wallace Nichols of the California Academy of Sciences. Also, the rhythmicity of it all can be soothing and lead to entrainment—what members of a band (and their audience) feel when they’re all in a musical groove. If we’re lucky, water is our entry into this synchronicity of nature.
Fundamentally, water is life, and all organisms need to stay close to it. “If we navigate correctly we live. It makes sense, then, that we find some water sounds, smells and sights appealing.”
Concludes Nichols: “Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau spoke for the majority when he said: ‘The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.’”
Q. Might you have an appointment with Dr. Bot any time soon?
A. We hope not, but if you’re considering surgery for vision correction, a robotic system might cut a flap in your cornea and plot out the series of laser pulses to reshape its inner layer, says Eliza Strickland in “IEEE Spectrum” magazine. With knee replacement, autonomous robots cut through bone with greater accuracy than human surgeons. Same with spine surgery, where surgeons gain 1.5-millimeter accuracy using a properly prepped guidance robot. And “at expensive clinics for hair transplants, a smart robot identifies robust hair follicles on the patient’s head, harvests them and then prepares the bald spot for the implants by poking tiny holes in the scalp in a precise pattern— sparing the doctor many hours of repetitive labor.” Moreover, Strickland says, today’s surgical robots “extend the surgeon’s capabilities,” filtering out hand tremors and allowing for more precise maneuvers with laparoscopic surgery’s typically awkward, long handled tools.
Looking to the future, R&D advanced systems specialist Simon DiMaio likens the current research to the step-by-step early efforts on self-driving cars that culminated in ones now capable of warning of impending dangers. “For surgical robots to provide similar warnings—by alerting a surgeon whose instruments stray from the typical path, perhaps—they’ll need to get a whole lot smarter. Luckily, some are already getting schooled.”