Invention: Brain Radiator

In severe epileptic fits, over-excited brain cells fire at such a rate they can raise the brain’s temperature in that area. This causes more nerves to fire in a feedback mechanism that makes the fit even worse. One way of preventing such escalating fits is to cool the area of the brain that is susceptible.So Takashi Saito and colleagues at Yamaguchi University in Japan have developed a heat pipe that is surgically implanted into the affected region of the brain and then connected to a heat sink on the outside of the skull (see picture, top right). This device carries heat away from the affected area, keeping it cool and reducing the chances of severe epileptic fits in future.

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