Name That City! — June 24, 2021
Here are the questions:
- 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?
- Researchers in this city were the first to develop a mind-powered robotic arm. At what university did this research happen?
- In what city was the G-suit for airplane pilots developed?
And here are the answers:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!