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Doctor Invents 'Zero Gravity' Radiation Suit
DrFrasierCrane writes "You think you feel weighed down when your dentist lays that lead apron on you to take X-rays: how about the doctors who deal with radiation treatments and have to wear those aprons all day long? A Dallas, Texas, doctor has created a 'zero gravity' radiation suit for just that problem. From the article: 'Physicians are supposed to wear a lead apron during those procedures. It is back-breakingly heavy and doesn't cover the body completely. The zero gravity suit eliminates the weight and the exposed openings.'"
I take it this guy has invented inertial dampeners?
No? You haven't?
Then don't call it a zero gravity suit.
This will be good for doing angios, etc, where they just stand around and watch - which is good, 'cause they just hit the fluoro pedal, and the radiation stream is constant. For stuff like orthopaedics (my specialty), we usually just use spot images, and have to move around a lot, twist the patients legs, reduce fractures, etc, This suit is way too bulky, and wont be useful
Not a bad idea - I can see it getting used.
"zero G" - now that just makes me laugh
..........FULL STOP.
Zero Gravity? It's hanging from the ceiling!
In other news, I have a couple of zero-gravity lamps in my house.
And, finally, on topic: GOOD that finally someone thinks of properly protect doctors, as they're kind of essential to medicine.
Uhh... It is lead, and thicker than the conventional aprons. RTFA/WTFV is too much to ask, of course.
Actually, by suspending it from the ceiling, by definition of weight (as opposed to mass) it actually does weigh nothing from the perspective of the wearer.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You should have RTFA. This guy invented "hang it on a hook". No, really - that's the trick. You build a nice, heavy lead shield curtain and then you hang it from the ceiling to hold the weight. I guess if you don't have a handy ceiling mount (maybe you need a portable X-ray?) you could invent a wheeled gantry to carry it around with you. Anti-gravity would come under the category of "marketing hyperbole".
I've invented a time machine that can take you into the future. You lay on it and close your eyes and when you open them again - pow, you are in the future. Admittedly it looks just like a bed, but appearances can be deceptive.
In space no-one can hear your vuvuzela.
Doctor Invents 'Zero Gravity' Radiation Suit
Hmmm... that's how all the super villains start. Next it will be "Hand over Fort Knox or I'll float New Jersey off into outer space".
"Back-breakingly heavy"? Admittedly, I've never worn the aprons for more than the few minutes that an X-Ray takes, but they're not that heavy. Heck, it could even have some core-strengthening benefits. What about Law Enforcement or Military Personnel who have to wear bullet-proof vests all day long?
The video won't load for me right now, but the thing looks pretty cumbersome to have on you all day long and I'd be interested to see how it is attached (or suspended?) and "follows" you as you move around a room. The increased coverage that it provides definitely seems like a good thing, but there appear to be some major trade-offs.
I invented the same thing back in the dark ages. I called it "rope with spring" and the patent is still pending.
I just invented a zero gravity device for storing clothes. I'm going to call it, a "hanger"
You can actually make a radiation shield that lets light pass through it by simply 'impregnating' acrylic with lead? Dangerous radiation is higher in frequency then normal light but is it really possible to block the one and not the other? I don't have a great understanding of how waves behave in the environment, but this stuck out as odd to me.
Any circumstance under which you can effective give objects no weight is, for most purposes, considered to be zero gravity or microgravity, even if gravity is still actually present. For example, creating a weightless environment in an airplane doing a fast dive from a high altitude.
It would be more correct to call it a weightless suit than a zero gravity suit, but then it might not get as much attention.
This is not an attempt to redefine natural laws, it's just using commonly understood terms to convey what it the device accomplishes.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Sounds like the boys from NASA should get hold of this technology, since the guys in long term space are being bombarded on a regular basis. It might cut some of the current suits mass down, or give the mass over to particle stopping material, instead of radition protection. Even in the ISS, the exposure rate must be high.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek
I fail to see how "Zero Gravity radiation suit" is easier than "weightless radiation suit". One conveys what the product actually accomplishes and the other is useless dribble to catch a nice headline. The device does not effect gravity nor the wearers perception of it. That person still feel the gravity from earth pulling them to the floor. Marketing antics are not the same as making it easier for people to understand.
I was hoping this guy had added new features to his suits...
I think you mean Weight offset, not zero G.
Are your hangers a Zero G device?
Other then that, well done.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Anti-gravity would come under the category of "marketing hyperbole".
Considering its lameness, the category of "idle" is good enough.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Except that nobody actually does misunderstand it. People here seem to actively be _choosing_ to assume that there is some sort of deliberate attempt here to misguide the public when the only people who seem to be having problems with the terminology are people who already know enough to not misunderstand it in the first place.
Eventually, the thing may have a disclaimer saying that it does not actually create a zero gravity environment, but that's an issue for lawyers to hammer out later, should it ever become mainstream enough that people who could genuinely be seriously confused by the concept might end up using it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Yes... *LIKE* a zero-gravity environment. It's not unheard of, you know, to use a phrase that conveys a particular concept as a metaphor for what it does, even if at the most technical level, that is not what it actually accomplishes.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Just make the vest hollow and fill it with helium.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yes, like in his kevlar example. Many people call it a "bullet proof vest" when in reality it is a "bullet resistant vest".
SIG FAULT: Post index out of bounds.
Just paint a lambda on the chest, and I think all the the slashdotters will be willing to forget this zero gravity nonsense.
And I already thought "W00T! SOON WE'LL BE FLYING IN SUITS WITH SOME RADIATION"!!! Disappointment again... (this conclusion sounds like XKCD, doesn't it? I need hobbies...)
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Spot images that I'm referring to are by the surgeon, being used to get a trajectory for a screw for instance, and typically they are not shielded, 'cause I have to hold the drill while looking at the x-ray.
..........FULL STOP.