Cell Sounds: Diagnostic: The Pulse of the Planet daily radio program offers free legal online mp3 downloads, exploring the world of sound in nature, culture and science, with audio adventures, world music, extraordinary sound portraits, science diaries, and nature ring-tones; an amazing sonic experience.



Airdate: Feb 20, 2006
Scientist: Jim Gimzewski

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 Nanotechnology ,Acoustics ,Medicine ,human biology


Cell Sounds: Diagnostic

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Well, your heart sounds good, let's hear what your cells have to say.
Transcript:
Music
Ambience: Room temperature cell song

Imagine walking into the doctors office and hearing them just listen to your body to see if youre healthy. Not just your heartbeat but the sounds of your cells. Im Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. UCLAs Dr. Jim Gimzewski discovered that it was possible to hear the highly amplified sounds made by yeast cells, like the one were listening to right now. And the discovery of this phenomenon has brought all sorts of ideas to mind.

Typically when you have different sounds and vibrations, they couple. Theres some form of coupling that make new sounds. You know, in an orchestra, when you hear many instruments play, they produce a different type of sound from just the individual instruments alone, and I just wonder, you know, is there some other forms of motion associated with the collection of cells. Now, if I tell you that, you might think well, is there? Well, there is right now in this room. Because the sound of my voice is purely created by bunches of cells that are working together. The sound of my heart is the collection of a whole bunch of cells that beat together. But when you go down to the other cells, you know, your liver, your prostate, your lungs, your skin, whatever! Are there connections there that we just dont know about! So, if I can truly listen to cells inside the human body, I will have a signature of the metabolic state, of the healthiness or how that cell is functioning. And that fascinates me on many levels, from the point of view of could we have a new diagnostic technique in medicine one day.

As Walt Whitman said, I sing the body electric. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. Im Jim Metzner.

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Cell Sounds: Diagnostic