POWER OF SOUND: Build Healthy Bones Two Ways!

Some of the latest uses of sound power will help keep bones healthy, directly and indirectly. An experimental device uses sound to measure bone density and detect osteoporosis. Also, Ben & Jerry's has helped develop a thermo-acoustic chiller for keeping their (calcium source!) ice cream cool.

A team of bioengineers at Rice University in Texas may have discovered a better way to detect the osteoporosis, a crippling fragility of bone that afflicts 10 million elderly in the US alone.

Early detection often can lead to treatments that halt or slow the progression of the condition and prevent debilitating fractures. However, until now testing was complicated and required specialized labs.

The prototype OsteoSonic device emits sound waves and analyzes the reflected waves to assess bone strength and possible breaks. Although the experimental model doesn't look like something anyone would want to have brought near an aging mother or father (it looks ominously like a turbo-powered electric drill), the system is completely non-invasive and painless. Testing of the device, which won the Grand Prize at the NASA "Design the Future" design awards, is already underway in Texas.

Learn more about the OsteoSonic from a Rice University release

Learn more about the NASA design contest from co-sponsor Emhart or from EurekaAlert

If the thought of brittle bones gives you the chills, think about ice cream instead. Then think about the amount of ozone-depleting chemicals (CFCs and such) it takes to keep the world's ice cream supply cool, as it trucks its way across deserts and through urban heat islands, and as it sits in a freezer waiting for your spoon. Ben & Jerry's was thinking of all that when it teamed up with scientists from Penn State University to create a freezer powered by sound waves.

According to a recent feature from National Public Radio, "at the heart of the system is sound -- a 190-decibel note that fluctuates some 100 times per second. That expansion and compression creates pockets of cold and warm air. A system of air circulators then funnels the cool air into the ice cream case."

Ben & Jerry, the actual people behind the company name, took a $5 correspondence course in ice-creaming making from Penn State in 1977, leading to the 1978 founding of their company. Two years ago they returned to Penn State with the funds to support development and commercialization of the thermo-acoustic chiller.

Some members of the Penn State team had been working on the underlying technology for 30 years. An acoustic chiller flew on a 1992 space shuttle flight, and Penn State's team had supplied prototype acoustic air conditioners for the US Navy.

The chilled fruits of this collaboration debuted on Earth Day at a New York City ice cream shop. Although the new system is still too expensive and unreliable for widespread use, the team hopes that further development will reduce the expense of cutting back on both ice-cream warming and global warming.

Visit Ben & Jerry’s site, especially the thermoacoustics page “Sounds Cool” (w/Flash)

Visit NPR's "All Things Considered" feature on the chiller, with pictures and audio

Learn more about the new chiller from Science Daily a Pennsylvania Business Journal