Fall 2010

10/09/2010 | Physics Meets Physiology: How We Hear and How We Can Lose Our Hearing -- Jochen Schacht (Kresge Hearing Research Institute)

Hearing is our most sensitive sense and a basis for human communication. Our ears can pick up the quiet rustling of leaves, recognize the voices of our loved ones (and not so loved ones), and help us enjoy the spectrum of sounds from a bass drum to a violin. Yet, our ears are also highly vulnerable, and hearing losses of significant severity affect more than 28 million individuals in this country alone.  Approximately one-half of such losses are thought to be of hereditary origin. The others are acquired during our life time as the result of a variety of causes, including exposure to work-place or recreational noise, treatment with certain drugs, various diseases and the aging process itself. This lecture will introduce the delicate organization of our inner ears, explore the major sources of acquired hearing loss and outline potential remedies.

10/16/2010 | Comets and Cappuccinos: How a Coffee Break Helped Change the Way We Understand the Solar System -- Br. Guy Consolmango SJ (Vatican Observatory)

Learn how a cappuccino at the Vatican fifteen years ago inspired a new, efficient way of measuring meteorite densities. Startlingly, comparing these measurements to the densities of asteroids and comets has completely shaken up our understanding of small bodies in the solar system. It's altered our way of understanding the formation of planets, our ideas of defending ourselves from killer asteroids, and our definition of dwarf planets like Pluto.

10/23/2010 | Cochlear Implants: An Amazing Advancement -- Hussam El-Kashlan (U-M Otorhinolaryngology), Teresa A. Zwolan (U-M Otolaryngology)

Cochlear implants are considered to be one of the most significant technological achievements in the twentieth century for the treatment of deafness. Prior to the introduction of these implants, treatment options for profoundly deaf individuals included visual communication (lipreading or sign language), tactile devices, or reliance on amplification systems that provided limited auditory information. Cochlear implants enable most users to detect and recognize speech sounds across the entire speech spectrum even at very soft levels – a great improvement when compared to the limited information deaf patients receive with traditional hearing aids. This increased ability to understand speech has resulted in striking improvements in spoken language skills, academic and vocational achievements, and quality of life for profoundly deaf individuals. This lecture will discuss this amazing technology, including a description of the internal and external components of contemporary devices, outline the surgical procedures to place the electrode array in the inner ear, and present the outcomes obtained with current cochlear implant recipients.  

10/30/2010 | Maintenance and Repair of Damaged Ears: Challenges for the Biologist and Bioengineer -- Yehoash Raphael (U-M Otolaryngology)

Mammalian ears evolved to provide exquisite sensitivity for detection and discrimination of sounds.  Along the evolutionary path, self-repair ability diminished, such that most injuries become irreparable and lead to permanent hearing loss. Innovative therapies are being developed to restore the inner ear and provide hearing ability to deaf patients. Among the biological options for future therapies are the implantation of stem cells or the induced transformation of non-sensory cells to new sensory (hair) cells. Therapies for nerve regeneration are also being developed in order to enhance performance with the cochlear implant and to innervate stem cells. Bio-engineering approaches which combine such biological therapies with artificial sources of acoustic stimulation are another area of intense development.

11/06/2010 | Those Phantom Sounds (Ringing in Your Ears) are Produced by Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Tinnitus -- Susan E. Shore (U-M Otolaryngology)

Tinnitus is a phantom sound (ringing of the ears) that affects quality of life for millions of people around the world and is usually, but not always, associated with hearing impairment.  In some cases, insults to the somatosensory system, such as tooth absences or disturbances of the temporo-mandibular joint can also result in tinnitus.  Connections between these two sensory systems can explain why tinnitus can be modulated in loudness and pitch by somatic maneuvers such as jaw-clenching and eye movements.  Evidence will be provided that deafferentation of central auditory structures leads to increased neuron spontaneous firing rates and neural synchrony in the hearing loss regions that signal the phantom sounds.  Crossmodal compensations in subcortical structures may contribute to central re-organization of auditory structures by providing aberrant, excitatory connections that result in hyperactivity.

11/13/2010 | Meeting the World's Energy Needs with the Fusion Hybrid Reactor -- Terry Kammash (U-M Nuclear & Radiological Sciences)

The World's energy needs by the mid century, when its population is expected to reach 10 billion, is projected to be 10-30 Terrawatts of carbon free power. The fusion hybrid reactor is uniquely suited to meet these needs since it is self-fueling, can produce abundant power safely, and securely for decades.

12/04/2010 | Particle Accelerators or Atom Smashers: the Engines of Discovery -- Lawrence Jones (U-M Physics)

Research enabled by particle accelerators has lead to our discoveries and current understanding of nuclei and elementary particles. This talk will review and explain the operation of these accelerators from the cyclotrons (of the 1930s) to the current colliding beams research facilities, such as the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

12/11/2010 | Celebration of Physics -- Samuel C. C. Ting (U-M Physics)