accidentals and substantives

sonic cells

James Ginzewski, the same scientiest who brought you the world's smallest abacus, has been in the recording studio of late:

"UCLA scientist James Gimzewski positioned a sensitive instrument called an atomic force microscope over a cell to try to detect its motion. To his surprise, the microscope picked up regular vibrations. His team then looked for a program that would could convert the data into a sound file. Gimzewski thinks what they hear is the sound of tiny molecular motors inside the cell, moving things around. The researcher likened it to sitting outside a living factory, and listening to the wall. When they changed the temperature, the sound would speed up or slow down, as if the cells were running faster or slower."

********************

Gimzewski and others hope the research will eventually find application in medical diagnostics. They envision a day when doctors will be able to detect Leukemia or Parkinson's or Multiple Sclerosis in its earliest stages by listening for sonic deviancy deep inside the body. Like a luthier repairing the broken strings of a violin, the job of the physician will be to retune living cells.

You can find sound files at NPR. (George, maybe there's Garageband potential here? ;)