Clenching compasses and topographic maps, we tore through the Virginia woods in a frenzied parade. We dodged roots, hurdled downed trucks, and ducked to avoid getting smacked by saplings. I looked down. A trickle of blood oozed from a thorn in my left knee. I felt like a Neanderthal in the midst of a hunt…
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There’s plenty of time for patients to mingle in the waiting room of the $125 million Proton Therapy Center in Houston. In one corner, Alexander Glaros, a 16-year-old with Ewing’s sarcoma, plays cards with his mom. In another, a prostate cancer patient in his 60s entertains a toddler who is awaiting treatment for the tumor in her brain. Nearby, a middle-aged woman with lung cancer pages through a newspaper. While they have different types of cancer, all are counting on the same technology, a high-tech radiation treatment called proton beam therapy.
By the time Jim Hurley, 54, learned last year that he had early-stage prostate cancer, the disease had already killed his father and struck two brothers. With that family history, the plaster artisan from Springfield, N.J., wasn’t about to take chances. For two months, he pored over scientific studies, books, and websites about the cancer. He discussed his situation with doctors, his brothers, and other survivors. A surgeon recommended surgery. A radiation oncologist advocated a form of radiation therapy. But Hurley, concerned that either could leave him impotent or incontinent, settled on a novel technique that attacks cancer with sound waves. He had to drop $23,500 and fly to Toronto to get treated with high-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU. (Health officials in Canada and Mexico permit the procedure, but U.S. regulators haven’t made a decision on it.) So far, he’s pleased with the results.
For Kyle Anderson, 19, the battle began with a row of welts on his stomach. Soon the Arizona State University student, who was living in a private apartment complex in Tempe, was waking up repeatedly at night to smash anything that moved.
His prey? Cimex lectularius, those notorious nocturnal, lentil-size bedbugs that feed on human blood, can travel on anything from luggage to a used sofa and are now popping up everywhere across America—from homes to hotels to summer camps—in surprisingly large numbers. “History is repeating itself,” says Michael Potter, an entomologist from the University of Kentucky and a leading bedbug expert, who notes that most American homes were crawling with the bugs prior to World War II. The widespread use of potent insecticides such as DDT nearly wiped them out. Experts aren’t sure what’s spurring a comeback now, but they theorize it’s a combination of international travel and the move away from strong pesticides.
This fall, Ohio State University’s Buckeye Bullet is gunning for an electric-vehicle land-speed world record on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah, the site of the world’s premier speed events. The Buckeye Bullet’s attempt highlights the leaner, cleaner side of racing, featuring needle-shaped, battery-powered vehicles sprinting at 250-plus mph. Students aren’t the only Ones chasing green speed. Other teams include garage-savvy environmentalists, a former drag racer and a recovered quadraplegic who drives for charity, not just records. And several racers are backed by energy companies in search of better battery technology. But they all have one thing in common: a desire to top 300 mph. In August the Bullet became the first electric vehicle to surpass this feat in a timed mile, clocking in at 308.317 mph, beating the national electric land-speed record of 256.894 mph—unofficially, anyway.