PIO doctor saves asthmatic toddler’s life onboard plane
New York:A quick-thinking Indian-origin doctor in the US has saved the life of a 2-year-old boy who suffered an asthma attack onboard a transatlantic flight by creating a makeshift inhaler out of a cup and a bottle.
Dr Khurshid Guru, director of Robotic Surgery at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York was aboard the Air Canada flight from Spain to the US on September 18 when he was notified of the toddler in trouble.
The boy was crying and short of breath and his parents had accidentally packed his asthma medication in checked luggage, ‘ABC News’ reported.
“The child had developed a cold. We were three or four hours into the flight. I think the cold and popping of the ears and crying. He got worse,” said Guru. The child’s oxygen level was dipping down to a dangerously low level. He needed oxygen but also asthma medication.
However, the plane only had an adult inhaler on board, which would not be of much help, he said. Guru, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, came up with a jerry-rigged device similar to a nebulizer that would deliver both oxygen and asthma medication to the crying child.
He cut up a water bottle and added oxygen to one end and the adult inhaler through a small hole in the bottle. That way the oxygen and medication could be delivered through the bottle’s opening directly to the child.
“As the bottle went near to the child’s face, he pushed it away. I got a water cup and made a hole in the bottle and focused it to his face … told [the parents] to keep it there. Within about half an hour and two treatments he was sounding much better,” Guru said.
After the very unusual treatment, the child’s oxygen level was at a normal level, he said. By the time the plane landed, the 2-year-old was playing with his mother. (PTI)
Drone-made rope bridge can carry a man
London: Researchers have designed a fleet of artificially intelligent drones that have built a rope bridge which is strong enough to take the weight of a human.
The three quadcopters did not receive human input as they spanned two scaffolding towers set nearly 8 metres apart at the Flying Machine Arena in Zurich, Switzerland.
Researchers at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich fitted the drones with spools of Dyneema, a lightweight but tough plastic fibre. The drones used onboard artificial intelligence and pre-programmed routine to reel out 120m of fibre between the two towers, flying in complex patterns to build the foundations and strengthen their structure, ‘The Times’ reported.
Two drones began construction by hovering in a circular motion around a horizontal beam on one of the scaffolding towers. As they flew, the fibre wound itself around the beam. A third drone worked on the opposite scaffold to create the foot rail.
The demonstration hints at an autonomous future in construction, according to ‘Quartz’. “Flying machines offer a number of advantages compared to traditional construction machines,” researchers said on the ETH Zurich’s website. “Specifically, they can reach any point in space and fly in or around existing objects,” they said. (PTI)
New device makes it easier to take selfies with your dog
Los Angeles: Do you have a tough time getting your pooch to stand still while taking a selfie? A new smartphone attachment can help. Jason Hernandez in California has developed a smartphone attachment that helps dog owners take the perfect picture or selfie with their pet.
The attachment is a phone mount that holds a tennis ball to grab your pet’s attention towards the phone’s camera as you click a picture. Hernandez has been working on the project for about a year and was inspired to create the Pooch Selfie after seeing his wife experience some difficulty capturing a photo of the family’s pet dog, ‘Huffington Post’ reported. Hernandez noticed that a tennis ball successfully captured the dog’s attention.
The simple device works for most smartphones and tablets, and is designed to work with both front and rear cameras. A Kickstarter campaign to fund Pooch Selfie has already surpassed its goal of raising USD 7,000. So far the campaign has raised more than USD 14,000. (PTI)
