Tech Tour Day Four: More From MTU (And Pix Soon, I Promise)
I got even more good tech news from Michigan Technological University over a breakfast at the famous Suomi Restaurant in downtown Houghton on my way out of town Sunday.
Over a breakfast of french toast Finnish style, and then in their laboratories, I met with Ryan J. Gilbert and Jeremy Goldman, two assistant professors of biomedical engineering, and their latest research, which has the promise to alleviate some very serious human suffering.
Gilbert, a native of Barryton who did his college work at Case Western Reserve University and Georgia Tech, is working on a variety of biomaterials that could be used in medicine, including a hydrogel that will serve as a guide for the regrowth of nerve cells, which could eventually be used to offer new mobility to those with spinal cord injuries.
Gilbert is also working on materials to coat bio-electrodes so they aren't rejected by human tissues -- and they'll even prompt nerves to bind to them. Tiny electrodes are used in a variety of medical treatments, and are also being studied as another treatment for paralysis.
Goldman's research aims to help those suffering from a complication of surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes -- unpleasant and disfiguring swelling around the area where the lymph nodes were removed. The swelling occurs because the lymph fluids don't go away when the lymphatic plumbing is removed -- it just backs up in the area of the body where it's generated because it can't move. He's studying various molecular mechanisms of natural lymphatic regrowth, to create new lymphatic pathways.
Both these profs indicate the way Michigan Tech is branching out into new kinds of engineering -- and offer significant economic development potential for Michigan.
So I could have hit the road for Mt. Pleasant at about 10:30 a.m. Did I? Heck no! If I'm this far north I might as well go all the way, I figured -- so I pointed the Tech Tour GMC Yukon Hybrid north from Houghton to the tip of the Keweenaw, to the end of the earth, to the wonderful place called Copper Harbor.
It was gorgeous, as usual, So was Brockway Mountain Drive, where 50-mph winds howled, making 61 degrees feel cold. I stopped by the Jam Lady's house in Eagle River and picked up a jar of thimbleberry jam, too. (I love how they run their store -- they've got a porch full of Upper Peninsula native fruit jams, jellies and syrups, and the way you pay is via an "honesty can," a coffee can full of bills with which you make your own change. Only in the Keweenaw.)
On the way back down to Houghton, it began to rain, then storm, complete with lightning and downpours, a harbinger of the rest of my trip to Mt. Pleasant. I crossed the Mackinac Bridge at 6:30 p.m. in a howling gale and heavy rain, and didn't reach my hotel near Central Michigan University until 9 p.m. I think I set a personal record -- driving straight through from a roadside park in Baraga County to Mt. Pleasant without a stop.
One of the things I liked about the Houghton visit was the incredibly speedy Internet at the Best Western. According to Speedtest.net, it was an incredible 8.05 mpbs download, and 1.86 mb upload, with a 42-millisecond ping time. Michigan Tech president Glenn Mroz told me the speed was probably due to the fact that the university is using two floors of the hotel as temporary student housing until it finishes a new dorm next fall -- the hotel is actually connected to the university's super high speed network these days.
Well, whatever the reason, it sure beat the heck out of the WiFi service at the Comfort Inn Mt. Pleasant, a ridiculously slow 220 kbps download and 130 kb upload, with a 167-millisecond ping.
A Verizon wireless card I'm reviewing fared even worse, with a 1,011-millisecond ping, and a 1995-style speed of 130k download and 20k up.
So I'm using a three-year-old Sprint card at the moment, which achieved a 370-millisecond ping, but a download speed of 1.13 mbps and upload of 120k.
And where are the pictures? Hey, I've got lots -- in my camera. But I need to go buy the right kind of USB cable. I was certain I brought it with me but it seems to have dematerialized. Later Monday, I promise, you'll see a bunch of cool pictures from Up North on the Tech Tour page.
And speaking of the Tech Tour GMC Yukon Hybrid -- it's even better now than the one I had last year. I'm getting low 20s miles per gallon out of a gigantic seven-passenger SUV that'll tow three tons if you ask it to. It features all-electric drive at speeds of up to about 30 mph, and on the highway it deactivates four of its eight cylinders at speeds below 75 mph, achieving amazing fuel efficiency for this big a vehicle. The nav system and satellite radio rock, too, particularly in rural areas like the UP, where about all you can get on terrestrial radio is country music and Rush Limbaugh. And speaking of terrestrial radio, I was pulling in good old WWJ Newsradio 950 clear as a bell in Gaylord well before sunset Sunday. Nice signal!
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