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My NASA Social: OSIRIS-REx & Bennu the Asteroid

I feel terrible that I haven’t been writing here because I’ve been involved in some really cool things that deserve to be mentioned. School and work have kept my brain so busy that I just haven’t had the energy to write for me. But I’m hoping to change that!

During my spring break, I attended a NASA Social to learn about the first-ever NASA mission to travel to an asteroid, retrieve a sample, and bring the sample back to Earth.

During the one-day event, I got to see the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at Lockheed Martin. In addition to that, I got to speak with engineers about the inspiration behind and challenges facing OSIRIS-REx, took a tour of the mission operations center, and got an up close look at Lockheed’s massive asteroid wall.

Why is this mission such a big deal?

Asteroids are composed of leftover debris from the solar system formation. This can teach us about the history of our planets, as well as answer the question: Where did we come from?

OSIRIS-REx will launch in 2016, meet the asteroid in 2018, depart the asteroid in 2021, and return home with samples in 2023. What makes this such an incredible mission is that the spacecraft will only make contact with the asteroid for about five seconds while it gets its samples!

What is OSIRIS-REx?

OSIRIS-REx, or Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, is the first NASA mission to bring samples from an asteroid back to Earth.

It will launch this Fall, and orbit the sun for a year until finally using Earth’s gravitational field to move it long its path to Bennu. It will spend another year mapping potential sample sites on the asteroid.

OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM

A picture of the sample capsule and TAGSAM.

A sampling arm, called TAGSAM, will release a burst of nitrogen gas which will cause rocks and soil to be stirred up and captured by the samples head. After this brief encounter with Bennu’s surface, the sample capsule will separate from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and return to Earth. NASA hopes to collect between 60 and 2000 grams of asteroid material.

Where is OSIRIS-REx going?

Meet Bennu.

Bennu asteroid facts

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will travel to the asteroid Bennu. Scientists chose Bennu because of its composition, size, and proximity to our planet. It’s considered a rare or “primitive” asteroid, meaning that it hasn’t changed significantly since it formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago. Because of this, scientists hope to find organic molecules on Bennu like those that led to the origin of life on Earth.

Admittedly I knew nothing about OSIRIS-REx when I applied for the NASA Social. After attending the Orbital ATK rocket launch (which was sadly scrubbed) in December, I jumped at the chance to attend another event during my break from school. I would have gone to any one of them, but I’m so glad this was the one I ended up at. Learning about this mission and touring Lockheed Martin was such an incredible experience.

And the other attendees made this social one to remember. Everyone was so interesting and I loved hearing about what got them interested in science and space exploration. I really hope to see some of them at the OSIRIS-REx launch in September!

OSIRIS-REx Scale

If you’re interested in attending an event like this, check out the list of upcoming NASA Socials and apply.

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How Radiography Students Decorate for Christmas

radiography christmas tree

Our school participated in a Christmas tree decorating contest earlier this month.

A classmate had a brilliant idea for our tree’s theme: bones! We took bones from a skeleton and turned them into ornaments. One of our clinical instructors cut out x-rays, which are a bit difficult to see in this picture, but trust me they’re awesome. And who needs a star when you have a skull?

Needless to say, we won the contest 🙂

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Fluorescent Wound Dressing Could Reduce Post-Op Infections

Right now we’re learning about infection control at school. Since I spent 40 hours in a hospital each week, I’m trying to absorb every bit of information possible. It’s actually quite fascinating, and I regret never taking microbiology because I think I’d love it.

Anyway, it was perfect timing that an article about early infection detection popped up in my Facebook News Feed today. It appears that scientists have created a prototype wound dressing that’s able to detect the presence of bacteria at a much earlier stage of infection.

wound dressing Photo credit: Intelligent hydrogel wound dressing by University of Bath, via American Chemical Society

The dressing is triggered by a biofilm, a substance created by colonizing bacteria. It’s made up of DNA, proteins, and complex sugars. If detected, the dressing will react with it and turn a bright fluorescent color.

Infection is the most likely reason people wind up back in the hospital following surgery. A wound dressing like this one could certainly help to reduce the number of post-op infections. In testing, the dressing was able to detect the presence of bacteria within four hours from the initial invasion.

You can read more about the wound dressing on IFL Science, or dive into the research in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

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Space, School, and Swallow Tests

Whoa. It’s been a while, huh? I thought that I’d have more time to write over the summer, but I ended up playing video games and making a third trip back to the Kennedy Space Center. Remind me to start writing more about space. Maybe this blog will have a dual focus: anatomy AND cosmology!

School is currently underway, and it’s more intense than I anticipated, but that’s okay because I appreciate a good challenge. We’re only three weeks in and I feel like I’ve already learned a lot. I’ve even seen some really cool procedures during my clinical days—right now I spend three days in the classroom and two days in the radiology department.

On my first day of clinicals, I watched a swallow test. It was a fluoroscopy exam, which means that the x-ray was taken in real-time so I could see what the structures of the mouth and throat looked like in real-time. Not a bad way to start off the semester! I found this video of a swallow test on YouTube in case you’re curious.

Since then I’ve had the privilege of observing radiation therapy, CT, and a special procedures case in which a balloon was inserted into the vein of a patient’s arm. All of this is in addition to general radiography (x-rays). By mid-October I should be taking my first chest ray! Also, I’m really looking forward to checking out MRI and my eventual rotation through surgery.

As for classes, I’m really digging radiation protection because it’s very science based. It lightly touches on the physics behind it all, and I can’t wait until we dive in completely in our upcoming physics class. I wish that I were enjoying my anatomy class more. This semester, we’re devoting an entire class to the skeletal system and its anatomy/physiology. It’s off to a slow start, so hopefully I’ll reignite my interest in the coming weeks.

The only downside is that I’m having a difficult time managing my time. It’s hard to balance my school workload with that of my job. Sometimes I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water. I need a better system, but I’m working on it. Speaking of, I should probably get back to studying!

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The Museum of Death, Los Angeles, CA

This post originally appeared on my old blog, Bottle Up the Crazy, in 2011.

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museum of death

“Death is very likely the single best invention of life.” – Steve Jobs

Would it be strange to say that one of my favorite places in Los Angeles is the Museum of Death in Hollywood? Probably. Its location makes it seem like a tourist destination, much like a wax museum or a “house of freaks,” but I can assure you that it is anything but a novelty venue. Instead of focusing on shock value, co-founders Cathee Shultz and James Healy aim to educate visitors about the history and reality of death.

I still remember the small poster that hung on the wall at my first cadaver lab: “Mortui Vivos Docent,” or “Let the dead teach the living.”  While I would argue that I have an inquisitive mind when it comes to mortality, others would say that it is more of a morbid curiosity. Since I was young I have always had a fascination with death. It is not so much the removal of a person from this world that intrigues me, but rather what their body can teach us.

I’ll dive into my fondness for anatomy and physiology another time, however. The Museum of Death provides a unique experience (don’t let the giant skull outside fool you). Yes, the pictures are graphic, but if you can sit through all 30 Saw movies, you will have no problem making it through the museum.

You start in the serial killer room, which features newspaper clippings, art, and letters from various famed killers. Most of it is tacked up on the wall because the owners are constantly adding and changing the display as new items come in. The most interesting part was learning that both founders have reached out to various serial killers, including John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson. If you have ever read the book “The Last Victim” by Jason Moss, you will understand why this is such a big deal.

The next rooms walk you through the history of the death penalty and the funeral process. The museum has a collection of matchbooks and fans from various funeral homes, including those with the most unfortunate names – Butcher Family Funeral Home, really? If you can stomach it, there is a video playing that describes the embalming process. It looks like one of those awful educational movies you would watch in grade school. From there you can look at a small collection of caskets, or you can go to what I guess to be the most popular room, the Tate-LaBianca room – or better known as the Charles Manson room.

Having just finished reading “Helter Skelter,” this room was the most interesting to me. It was also the most disturbing. It features photos from the crime scene and a tape of documentaries about the murders. The disturbing part was not the graphic images; however, it was my lack of a reaction to seeing them. I have done a remarkable job (and I don’t mean this in a pat-me-on-the-back kind of way) of detaching myself from death. Working in cadaver labs has helped me to develop a thick skin, but I also think that I have been desensitized thanks to movies and the news.

There are a few other really interesting rooms, but I’ll let you discover those for yourself. On my way out I stopped to talk with Cathee for a little while. I was curious about what motivated her to create the museum. We geeked out a bit over our shared love of anatomy and mortality and I wish that I had discovered this place sooner. After walking through the entire museum, I thought it was really cool that she reminded visitors to go live life as they left. The museum doesn’t exist to mock or make light of such a heavy topic, but rather it acts as a reminder to respect, appreciate, and enjoy life.

So next time someone cuts you off in traffic or gets your order wrong at Starbucks, add some perspective and let it go. And if that doesn’t work, re-read that Steve Jobs quote up there. If he can make you buy the same thing over and over again by slapping an “i” on it, then surely he can convince you to expand your horizons*.

* Don’t huff and puff; I am guilty of buying everything with an “i” on it, too.