MIND FIELDS Read Online Free PDF Page B

slightly and smiled, giving her the thumbs up.  Sandi turned and hurried to follow the man into the committee room.  It was a small but formally furnished chamber, with a slightly elevated stage at one end on which the committee members sat behind a semicircular mahogany desk.  Senator Stanton Cole, the chairman of the committee, sat in the center with a small podium on the desk in front of him.  To his right, sat the vice-chairman, Senator Russell Stetson.  Each of the seven senators had a microphone in front of them, which seemed an absurdity to Sandi given the small size of the room.  Whatever makes them feel powerful , she thought with disdain, trying not to feel intimidated.
      Senator Cole motioned her to a chair behind the front row table, which also supported a microphone.  She took her seat and pushed the microphone aside.
      “If you will, Dr. Fletcher,” Senator Stetson said, pointing at the microphone.  “I realize that it seems a bit silly in such close quarters, but all committee hearings are recorded.  I’m sure you understand.”
      Sandi nodded sheepishly.
      “We’ve read your brief, Doctor, but I for one didn’t follow it too well.  We’ve asked you here in the hope that you can translate some of this technojargon for us so we can make an intelligent recommendation to the full senate regarding your request.
      “Of course, Senator.”  She paused and took a deep breath.  “As you know, nanobots have already been approved for some uses in medical care, but we’ve barely scratched the surface of their potential.  Four years ago , my lab at Hopkins embarked on a project to develop a nanobot treatment to cure diseases of the central nervous system such as stroke or brain injury.  The idea is to minimize the damage that occurs immediately after the injury, and then to replace the damaged nerve cells, known as neurons, with specialized artificial cells called neuronanobots.  What I proposed was a two-step process.  The first step is to inject Phase One nanobots into the body, which are programmed to go to the area of damage and clean it up.  They get rid of blood and chemicals that accumulate when nerve cells are injured.  The second step is to inject nanobots that will go to the area of damage and turn into neurons, nerve cells that can replace the ones lost in the initial injury.”
      Sandi paused to peruse the faces of the senators.  She was relieved to see that they were all awake and there were only one or two blank stares.  Although the information she was presenting was quite technical, the younger senators in this group had grown up with at least some robotic and nanobotic theory ingrained into them in school.  Even the older senators, perhaps especially the older senators, knew about nanobots from personal experience, as these tiny robots were now the primary treatment for cleaning out clogged arteries in the heart or other areas of the body.  She felt it was safe to continue at this technical level without too much risk of losing anyone in this room.
      “We developed the Phase One neuronanobots fairly quickly.  Their function was relatively basic, mechanical in some ways.  The hardest part was getting them to go to the right place in the body once we injected them.  We solved this problem by having them maintain their motility until they find an area with a large concentration of certain chemicals that we know occur when brain tissue is injured.  Once they arrive in this area, they stop moving and they activate themselves to clean up the surrounding chemicals.
    “Our emphasis over the past two years has been in the development of Phase Two bots.  We inject these bots into a vein in the arm and they find their way into the brain within a matter of hours.  When they come near the Phase One bots, they synapse with…that is, they attach themselves to… these Phase One bots.  This way they are right where we want them — in the area where the injured brain