Page 32 - BBC Focus - August 2017

INNOVATIONS

AV I A T I O N

HELICOPTERS:

NOW WITH

WINGS!

At the recent Paris Air Show, Airbus was
showing off its new Racer concept
helicopter, which has both a main rotor
and a pair of propeller-sporting wings.
Racer (an acronym for ‘RApid and Cost-
Effective Rotorcraft’) would take off and
land vertically, just like a normal
helicopter, but would boast a top speed of
400km/h (250mph), which is nippier
than traditional choppers. If you’re
getting a sense of déjà vu here, that’s
because the Racer is essentially an
HE A L T H
updated take on the X concept that
3
Eurocopter (now Airbus) took to the Paris
A HEADBAND TO Air Show in 2011.
The craft is designed for the operation
of high-speed passenger services,
TREAT DEPRESSION? particularly between urban centres (such
as London and Berlin) where its vertical
take-off and landing capabilities
A South Korean biomedical start-up particular brain regions either eliminate the need to travel to and from
called Ybrain has developed a ‘anodally’ (increasing neuronal airports. But it could also find a role in
headband that they claim will offer activity) or ‘cathodally’ (decreasing military or search-and-rescue
relief from the symptoms of depression. neuronal activity). The Mindd headset operations. Airbus hopes to have a
The device, called Mindd, works using applies anodal stimulation via commercial craft based on the Racer
a technique called transcranial direct- electrodes in the headband to the concept available by 2020.
current stimulation (tDCS). Here, a low- frontal lobe, an area where decreased
voltage electrical current is applied to activity is associated with depressive
specific areas in the brain via disorders. Mindd is not intended as a
electrodes placed on the skull. DIY solution: patients would use it in
tDCS is not new – the basic principles their own homes, and all data regarding
have been understood since the early treatment would be sent automatically
19th Century. But the past decade or so to their doctor.
has seen increased interest in its use in The headband is currently
treating neurological and psychiatric undergoing clinical trials at Harvard
conditions, and a 2016 meta-analysis of Medical School, and at 12 hospitals in
hundreds of studies concluded that it’s South Korea. Early results are said to be PHOTOS: YBRAIN, AIRBUS
“possible or probably effective” as a promising, and if all goes well Ybrain
treatment for depression. hopes to market the device to health
tDCS equipment can stimulate providers by 2019.

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