Talk by Michihiro Furusaka, 8th December 2011, UNITEN

On the said date, we were blessed to have a very renowned professor, Mr Michihiro Furusaka, to present to us his present work. Mr Michihiro is professor from the Graduate School of Engineering at Hokkaido University, with involvements in various engineering fields, especially with regards to quantum engineering and neutrons.

Professor Michihiro Furusaka

Mr Michi presented to us about his involvement in neutron acceleration and neutron scattering. Allow me to explain a little bit about neutron scattering. According to Wiki, neutron scattering is a physical process and experimental technique to investigate materials, in which is very important in nuclear engineering. 

In Mr Michi's presentation, nuclear scattering devices are normally very large. Mr Michi has himself invented a compact neutron scattering device. This device uses lenses to focus the neutron beams. This technique saves space and allows the experimentation of wide neutron scattering. Compared to large neutron scattering devices, since the instruments are very long, it is very difficult to detect wide neutron scattering (it would require a VERY large sensor area to detect the wide scatters). The compact device solves the problem by being in itself, compact! It minimises the sensor area to detect the neutron scattering. As Mr Michi would say, Japanese loves compact things.

Mr Michi is also very involved in nuclear therapy. He gave us an interesting introduction to the subject with the beginning of x-rays, which lead to a very profound advance in radio-therapy. Examples are the use of 3D imagine in CT scans and in cancer imaging. It has had a very huge impact on medical sciences to date.

 An Example of CT Scan

Further presentation touched on the hair! Unfortunately, as time was short, I myself did not really understand about the purpose of hair research. However, what was found that hair itself, has 2 parts, the living part and the dead part. The living part, in the follicle, is the main source of the hair, producing keratin, the main component of hair. This protein, keratin, will 'die' when too much of it is produced, thus creating hair.

This research has led to scientists to be able to distinguish the shape of cells near the human brain. With such identification, this has been hugely applied in Parkinson's disease research. It seems that the shape of proper healthy cells is much different from cells that are afflicted with the disease. With this breakthrough, it could be possible to isolate these deiseased cells for treatment.

And so ends the short lecture from Mr Michi! It was a very informative presentation, covering a very wide range of topics. Hopefully, UNITEN would be able to organise more talks and to properly conduct it in such a way that befits and properly honours it.

Links:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19237.htm