Read the following article abstract.

Abstract

In this article, we explore the importance of cooperation in science. Just as various construction trades must work together to build a skyscraper, scientists from separate fields can cooperate to tackle complex scientific challenges. This is called interdisciplinary collaboration, and it is a great way to do science. By bringing together knowledge and tools from multiple fields, scientists can uncover creative solutions and make meaningful connections that they might not have reached on their own. We give an example of how collaboration between particle physics and medicine – two fields that seem very different from one another – come together to improve healthcare. Using the tools of particle physics, scientists are enhancing cancer diagnosis and treatment. Interdisciplinary collaboration is the best way to address many of the complex issues we face today, like controlling climate change or fighting cancer, and it can help scientists and doctors make a lasting impact on human lives and the health of our planet.

Available at: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/

frym.2024.1302457. Accessed on: July 17, 2024.

INSTRUCTION: Read the following text to answer question  

Bringing Physics Into The Doctor’s Office? 

Particle physics is a scientific discipline that tries to understand the tiniest building blocks of the universe. These particles are so small that we cannot see them with our eyes or even with advanced microscopes. To study them, particle physicists use huge, powerful machines called particle accelerators, which get particles moving at very high speeds and then smash them into each other. Examining what comes out of these collisions, using giant detectors, can teach scientists a lot about the tiny particles that make up atoms, like electrons and quarks, and even the famous Higgs boson. Nuclear physicists can also use and study radioactive isotopes – atoms that give off a kind of energy called radiation – in their experiments.

On the surface, particle physics and medicine might seem as different as plumbing and carpentry. But some particle physicists have the same goal as doctors – they would ultimately like to see their research improve human lives. Working together, doctors and particle physicists can combine tools and ideas from these two separate disciplines to improve the way diseases, like cancer for instance, are diagnosed and treated. When particle physicists collaborate with doctors, the sky(scraper) is the limit!

Available at: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/

frym.2024.1302457. Accessed on: July 17, 2024. 

INSTRUCTION: Read the following text to answer question.

Brachytherapy: A Tool for Fighting Cancer

Imagine you are camping at night, and you are sitting inside a tent. You want to read a book, but it is too dark. If someone outside the tent shines a flashlight at the book, that might help – you might be able to do some reading, especially if the person with the flashlight is not too far away. If the person with the flashlight gets very close to the tent, it will probably be easier to read your book. If you have a flashlight with you inside the tent and you hold your flashlight right up next to the pages of the book, then you are really in business! Brachytherapy is a little like this flashlight, because doctors deliver a dose of radiation right up close to tumor cells instead of treating them from farther away.

There are several ways to treat cancer using radiation. [...] When healthcare providers use beams of radiation from outside the patient, like with the linear accelerator, that is a little like shining the flashlight from outside of the tent. This is a great option, especially if doctors can aim the beam very carefully at the target. Another way to treat cancer with radiation is by using little pieces of radioactive metal. If doctors put the radioactive source right into the tumor that they are trying to treat, the cancer cells will get a high dose of radiation. This is what is done in brachytherapy.

Radiation Seeds and Extra Special Robots

There are several ways healthcare providers can deliver brachytherapy treatments. The first one that we will talk about is to use lots of little capsules, called seeds. Even though they are called seeds, these are a lot different than the kind of seeds you use in your garden! These seeds are pretty small – they are each about the size of a grain of rice. A doctor can surgically implant these seeds directly inside a tumor. The seeds stay in place inside and, because they are radioactive, they release radiation right where the cancer is.

In another type of brachytherapy, healthcare providers can use a robot called an afterloader that controls where the radioactive source is placed in the patient. This robot can move the source through special tubes into the inside of a patient. When the treatment is over, the robot removes the source from the patient. When the radiation source is not being used for treatment, it sits inside a container inside the robot. That container is made of lead so that it blocks radiation. The afterloader can be controlled from outside the treatment room, so the doctor and other members of the healthcare team can be outside of the room while the source is outside of its special container and is being used to treat the patient. This makes delivering radiation safer for the medical team, because they are not exposed to radiation each time they treat a patient.

Available at: https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ frym.2024.1378550. Accessed on: July 27, 2024.