December 2004 - Materials Science Institute - University of Oregon

GIDEON MENDEL Corbis ( top); W. WAYT GIBBS (bottom)
Counselor talks to AIDS patient in Cape Town, South
Africa. Microbicides under development would give
women the power to prevent HIV transmission.
ROBOTICS
Anthony J. Tether
Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Organized the Grand Challenge Robot Race.
Of the 15 vehicles that started the Grand Challenge race this
past March, not one completed the 227-kilometer course. One
crashed into a fence, another went into reverse after encountering
some sagebrush, and some moved not an inch. The best
performer, the Carnegie Mellon entry, got 12 kilometers before
taking a hairpin turn a little too fast. The $1-million prize
went unclaimed. In short, the race was a resounding success.
The task that the Pentagon’s most forward-thinking research
branch under Anthony J. Tether set out was breathtakingly
demanding. Most bots can barely get across a lab fl oor, but
DARPA wanted them to navigate an off-road trail at high speed
with complete autonomy. The agency had expected maybe
half a dozen teams, but more than 100, ranging from high
school students to veteran roboticists, gave it a try. The race,
the fi rst in a series of congressionally mandated technology
prizes, has concentrated the minds of researchers, blown open
the technological envelope and trained a whole generation of
roboticists. They will be out there again next October.
SA 50
(policy leaders)
PUBLIC HEALTH
Polly F. Harrison
Director, Alliance for Microbicide Development, Silver Spring, Md.
Promoted the use of a compound to prevent the spread of HIV.
Short of a vaccine against HIV, the most promising (and more
easily realized) prevention technology would be a microbicide
that women could apply topically before sexual intercourse to
prevent transmission of the virus. Such a product would allow a
woman to control her own protection. This is often not the case
with condom use, particularly in the developing world, where
male resistance to condoms is widespread. Polly Harrison has
played a leading role in organizing legislative and policy initiatives
to involve pharmaceutical and biotech companies, the U.S.
government and academic research organizations in the development
of a microbicide. This year her efforts and those of others
began to pay off. In July the U.S. House of Representatives
provided $30 million for microbicide research at the U.S. Agency
for International Development, an $8-million increase over
the previous year. More than 60 candidate microbicides are in
the pipeline; 18 are already in clinical testing. With an increase
in funding and cooperation, a microbicide could be available
within fi ve years. Even a partially effective product could prevent
almost a million infections a year.
Sandstorm, a vehicle from the Carnegie Mellon team, took part
in the Grand Challenge, a 227-kilometer race held in March.
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