Name That City! — June 24, 2021

Here are the questions:

1. We know that Dr. Albert Sabin developed the polio vaccine. But he spent many years during and after World War II in which flyover city?
2. Researchers in this city were the first to develop a mind-powered robotic arm. At what university did this research happen?
3. In what city was the G-suit for airplane pilots developed?

And here are the answers:

1. In 1939, Dr. Sabin moved to Cincinnati and worked at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. During World War II, he was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and helped develop a vaccine against Japanese encephalitis. He maintained his association with Children’s Hospital, however, and by 1946 he had also become the head of Pediatric Research at the University of Cincinnati.
2. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) researchers developed brain-computer interface technology (BCI) that allowed a quadriplegic man to move objects on a computer using his mind. A year later, a woman was able to use the technology to move her prosthetic arm, turn and bend her wrist, and close her hand. Most recently, a team of UPMC bioengineers added brain stimulation to evoke tactile sensations and sensory feedback through the robotic arm.
3. The G-suit was developed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The G-suit –While the technology in airplanes greatly improved during World War I, the actual pilots had problems losing consciousness due to g-forces (the equivalent of hundreds of pounds of weight against the body during sharp maneuvers at high speeds, preventing blood from circulating to the brain). Researchers then created a full-body uniform with chambers that, when inflated with air, counteract g-forces by directing blood flow to the brain. Willy Messerschmitt, the leading German designer of fighter planes, saw a G-suit on a downed American airman and concluded: “We had nothing to match it, and I knew, if American aviation science was so far ahead of us to make such a suit, Germany had lost the war already.”

Thanks for playing!