[dramatic percussion music]
- HEY, THERE, WELCOME TO "NASA LAUNCHPAD."
I'M YOUR HOST, JUSTIN TULLY.
LET'S TALK RESEARCH.
PROBABLY NOT A TOPIC YOU'RE FOND OF, RIGHT?
I MEAN, ALL THAT DIGGING THROUGH INFORMATION,
TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL-- IT'S A LOT OF WORK.
NOW THINK ABOUT SOME SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, LIKE NASA DOES.
FOR SOME STUDIES, WE'RE TALKING
MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PIECES OF DATA.
CAN YOU IMAGINE TAKING A MILLION MEASUREMENTS?
FORTUNATELY, THOUGH, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK LIKE THAT.
THERE ARE THESE WONDERFUL INVENTIONS CALLED DATA LOGGERS
THAT DO THE REPETITIVE, MONOTONOUS WORK
OF RECORDING DATA SO THAT RESEARCHERS
CAN FOCUS THEIR TIME AND ENERGY ON INTERPRETING THAT DATA.
AND THERE ARE A BUNCH
OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF DATA LOGGERS
THAT MEASURE A VARIETY OF VARIABLES,
INCLUDING WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION,
HUMIDITY, RADIATION, MOISTURE, AND TEMPERATURE.
TEMPERATURE, THAT'S SOMETHING YOU CAN GET
A PRETTY GOOD FEEL FOR BY YOURSELF, RIGHT?
I MEAN, YOU CAN TELL PRETTY INSTANTLY
WHETHER IT'S COLD OR HOT OUTSIDE.
BUT IN A LOT OF CASES, IT'S IMPORTANT
TO GET MORE ACCURATE INFORMATION ABOUT TEMPERATURE,
AND THAT'S WHERE THE DATA LOGGERS COME INTO PLAY.
FOR A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF A TEMPERATURE DATA LOGGER,
LET'S LOOK AT NASA'S HISTORY OF WINTER CONFERENCE
IN LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK.
IT'S A WEEKLONG PROGRAM THAT HELPS TRAIN EDUCATORS,
LIKE YOUR TEACHERS,
TO THINK AND WORK LIKE SCIENTISTS.
THEY USE A DATA LOGGER CALLED A THERMOCHRON.
AND FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THERMOCHRONS,
LET'S HEAR FROM ALLEN LUNSFORD, NASA TECHNOLOGIST
FROM NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER.
- A THERMOCHRON IS A LITTLE DATA LOGGER.
IT'S ABOUT THE SIZE OF A STACK OF DIMES.
IT'S REALLY KIND OF SMALL, COMPACT, AND RUGGED.
SO YOU CAN CONNECT IT TO A COMPUTER
AND PROGRAM IT TO RECORD THE TEMPERATURE
EVERY MINUTE, EVERY TWO MINUTES,
WHATEVER YOU LIKE,
AND PUT IT, THEN, IN THE FIELD,
AND IT'S RUGGED ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN BURY IT IN THE SAND
OR PUT IT UNDERWATER OR PUT IT IN A SNOWPACK
AND LATER RETRIEVE IT,
CONNECT IT TO THE COMPUTER AGAIN,
DOWNLOAD THE DATA,
AND ANALYZE THE TEMPERATURE HISTORY
THAT THE THERMOCHRON EXPERIENCED.
- AT THE HISTORY OF WINTER CONFERENCE,
THE TEACHER-SCIENTISTS USE THERMOCHRONS
TO GATHER TEMPERATURE READINGS IN SNOW.
BUT THAT'S NOT THEIR ONLY USE.
- HOW I FIRST STARTED USING THEM WAS FOR MY HOUSE,
TO LOOK AT HOW OFTEN MY FURNACE WAS RUNNING WHILE I WAS AT WORK,
BECAUSE IT REALLY CONCERNED ME
THAT MY GAS BILL WAS $400 A MONTH.
SO YOU PUT IT IN A VENT, AND YOU GO TO WORK,
COME BACK AND LOOK AT THE DATA,
AND YOU SEE HOW OFTEN THE FURNACE COMES ON
BY THE TEMPERATURE RISING.
OR YOU CAN PUT IT IN A REFRIGERATOR
AND DO A SIMILAR THING.
BUT THE THERMOCHRON IS RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE
AND SIMPLE TO USE AND VERY, VERY VERSATILE.
- THAT VERSATILITY IS IMPORTANT,
BECAUSE IT MEANS THAT THE THERMOCHRON
CAN BE USED FOR A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS.
WHAT KINDS OF EXPERIMENTS USING THERMOCHRONS CAN YOU THINK OF?
BUT, AGAIN, THE THERMOCHRON
ISN'T THE ONLY KIND OF DATA LOGGER.
AND SOME OTHERS HAVE
SOME SLIGHTLY MORE SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS.
WHAT DO YOU THINK NASA MIGHT USE THEM FOR?
WELL, YOU KNOW THAT AN IMPORTANT PART OF NASA'S RESEARCH
IS ON HOW THE BODY REACTS TO BEING IN SPACE.
AND A GOOD INDICATOR OF A BODY'S WELL-BEING IS ITS TEMPERATURE.
BUT HAVING AN ASTRONAUT STOPPING THEIR WORK
TO HOLD A THERMOMETER UNDER THEIR TONGUE
EVERY FIVE MINUTES WOULD BE A REAL HASSLE.
WELL, THE SOLUTION COMES FROM NASA'S WORK
WITH JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY IN THE LATE 1980s
TO PRODUCE THE INGESTIBLE THERMAL MONITORING SYSTEM.
YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT: INGESTIBLE.
BASICALLY, IT'S A THERMOMETER IN A PILL THAT YOU SWALLOW.
ONCE IT'S INSIDE YOU, ITS QUARTZ SENSOR VIBRATES
AT A FREQUENCY RELATIVE TO THE BODY'S TEMPERATURE,
AND THAT TRANSMITS A HARMLESS
LOW-FREQUENCY SIGNAL THROUGH THE BODY.
THAT SIGNAL CAN BE READ OUTSIDE OF THE BODY BY A RECORDER,
WHICH DISPLAYS CORE BODY TEMPERATURE
AND OTHER VITAL STATISTICS.
AND AFTER 18 TO 30 HOURS, THE PILL IS PASSED SAFELY
FROM THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
WE DON'T HAVE FOOTAGE OF THAT, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.
BUT SPACE ISN'T THE ONLY PLACE
WHERE IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW YOUR BODY TEMPERATURE.
A SPIN-OFF FROM THE NASA THERMOMETER PILL
IS NOW USED BY ATHLETES IN A VARIETY OF SPORTS
TO HELP PREVENT HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES.
THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN A SPORT LIKE FOOTBALL,
WHERE ATHLETES MAY TRAIN
WHEN THE HEAT INDEX IS ABOVE 100 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT,
ALL WHILE WEARING HEAVY PADS THAT NOT ONLY RETAIN HEAT
BUT ALSO INCREASE THEIR BODY WEIGHT.
BEYOND THE SPORTING WORLD, THE INGESTIBLE CAPSULES
HAVE ALSO BEEN USED TO MONITOR THE CORE BODY TEMPERATURES
OF FIREFIGHTERS AND DIVERS,
TWO GROUPS WORKING IN OPPOSITE TEMPERATURE EXTREMES.
DOCTORS HAVE UTILIZED THE TECHNOLOGY
TO STUDY SLEEP DISORDERS
AND IMPROVE HEART SURGERY TECHNIQUES.
NOW, REMEMBER, WE'RE TALKING
ABOUT THE INGESTIBLE THERMOMETER PILLS.
I WONDER IF A THERMOCHRON WOULD WORK
IF YOU TRIED TO INGEST IT.
- I ALWAYS CAUTION PEOPLE:
PLEASE DON'T SWALLOW YOUR THERMOCHRON.
JUST BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T DESIGNED FOR THAT,
AND THEY'RE A LITTLE BIGGER THAN THOSE.
I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYONE DO IT. I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND IT.
- THE TECHNOLOGY HAS ALSO BEEN USED
TO MONITOR CRITICAL TEMPERATURES
IN PAPER MANUFACTURING, FOOD PROCESSING,
AND JUMBO TELEVISION SETS FOUND AT SPORT STADIUMS.
SO TO RECAP, WHETHER YOU'RE TALKING
ABOUT THE INGESTIBLE THERMOMETER PILL
OR THE NOT-INGESTIBLE THERMOCHRON,
IT'S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE USING THE PROPER TOOLS
FOR WHATEVER JOB YOU'RE WORKING ON.
THAT'S NASA FOR YOU:
FROM HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH TO DOWN HERE ON THE TURF,
DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLYING THEM
FOR MAINSTREAM USE, POTENTIALLY SAVING LIVES,
ALL IN A DAY'S WORK.
THAT'S ALL WE'VE GOT THIS EPISODE.
THANKS FOR WATCHING. I'M JUSTIN TULLY.
AND WE'LL CATCH YOU NEXT TIME ON "NASA LAUNCHPAD."