Friday, July 10th marked the fateful day of our midterm presentations. Emotions of terror, anxiety and nausea swept through the 3rd floor of Hedrick Hall. The ArtSci students were down to the last core and hanging on to sanity by a thread, drifting more into madness with each passing second. What to do for our project? PANIC.
OK, so that was sensationalism. What actually happened was not quite so dramatic or eventful. Really though, I was feeling the pressure to have the most exciting, creative and just all-around GREAT idea for the project. I think the biggest obstacle that my group faced was trying to realize that human creativity has no boundaries. The only limit to implementing our ideas is that the technology necessary to make our visions a reality is not yet developed or perfected. In short, the question is not “what is impossible?” but it is “what isn’t possible?”. And the truth of the matter is, there is nothing that isn’t possible, nothing that is too great of a challenge for human creativity and intellect.
So my group decided to abandon the anti-smog cannon idea in favor of a more practical and versatile idea, or a Nan-dage, an alternative to the Ace bandage or cast. The Nan-dage would be a better treatment to effectively heal mild injuries, like sprains or broken bones. In theory, the Nan-dage, a combination between a cast, Ace bandage and athletic tape is a naturally soft and extremely stretchy material, which could be stretched in any way and then wrapped around the injured area. The Nan-dage would be thermally responsive, as when it is heated in hot water, the Nan-dage will harden, to form a cast-like bandage. This application of the Nan-dage in this instance would be if someone had broken a bone, and the “cast” needed to be set. In addition to hardening, the Nan-dage will also release vaults containing medicine, such as Advil, to immediately relieve any initial pain, as well as vaults containing vitamin D and calcium to help the bone heal faster. Vitamin D and calcium work well together, as vitamin D provides a situation in which an optimal amound of calcium is absorbed into the bloodstream. Of course, these are only some of the possible applications for some sort of Nan-dage like material, as my group is still in the process of brainstorming a way to further utilize it for something truly impossible and unattainable. We might be brainstorming for awhile.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18539814
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ace+bandage
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V2/Fractures-Sprains-and-Strains.html
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- Ace bandage
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- Advil to kill pain
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- The laborious process to make a cast
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- Breaking bones is no fun