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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1997
> June
> June 6, 1997
Hour Two: Integrative Medicine / Robotic Clean-up
As a practicioner of integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil believes
that preventative, lifestyle-based medicine has a place in the modern
world, and can often complement techniques that have long been accepted
by the American medical establishment. In his recent book,
"Eight Weeks to Optimum Health," Dr. Weil presents a program for
enhancing health and the quality of the human immune system through
dietary changes, relaxation techniques, exercise and stress reduction.
He also advocates the addition of four antioxidant supplements -- vitamins
C and E, selenium, and mixed carotenes to help boost the body's natural
immunities, and suggests ways to avoid toxins in the modern world. Do
his suggestions make sense, and can they become a part of an average
person's life? We'll talk about it.
Plus ... On the 26th of April, 1986, there was an explosion in Unit
Four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukranian Republic.
The resulting fire and radioactive emissions caused the evacuation
of a large area surrounding the reactor, contamination of sit es downwind
of the reactor site, and tremendous human suffering.
Now, 12 years later, parts of the reactor site are still too radioactive
for human contact. A team of robotics engineers from the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , in association with several
Ukranian engineering teams, the private company Red Zone Robotics, and
the Carneigie Mellon Robotics
Institute, is trying to design radiation resistant robots to help
in the cleanup of Unit Four. They plan to use remotely-operated high-pressure
water jets to blast debris inside the reactor to bits for disposal --
a project that they estimate could take as long as thirty years. We'll
talk to one of the project leaders about how robots can work in this
most inhospitable of environments.
Guests:
Andrew Weil, MD
Director
Program
in Integrative Medicine
University of Arizona
Tuscon, Arizona
Maynard Holliday
Robotics Engineer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, California
Books/Articles Discussed:
"Eight
Weeks to Optimum Health" by Dr. Andrew Weil. 1997, Alfred A. Knopf.
Related links:
Dr. Weil - Related Links
Ask Dr. Weil:
http://www.drweil.com
University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine
http://www.ahsc.arizona.edu/integrative_medicine
Harvard Botanical Museum
http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/museum_botanical.html
Preventative Medicine in Action
Information on the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative
Medicine
http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/oam.htm
The American Cancer Society's Look at Alternative Methods
http://www.cancer.org/altmeth.html
Lists of Medical Resources
http://www.yahoo.com/Health/Alternative_Medicine/
http://galen.med.virginia.edu/~pjb3s/ComplementaryHomePage.html
A Cautionary Site: Quackwatch
http://www.quackwatch.com
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Chernobyl Clean-up Page:
http://www.llnl.gov/automation-robotics/chern.html
Robotics Information:
Other Robotics Projects at Lawrence Livermore
http://www.llnl.gov/automation-robotics/home.html
The Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute (collaborators on the Chernobyl
Project)
http://www.ri.cmu.edu/
Robotics Internet Resources
http://piglet.cs.umass.edu:4321/robotics.html
The International Atomic Energy Commission: A Report from 10 Years
Later
http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/inforesource/bulletin/bull383/gonzalez.html
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