(Air) How MIT & Stanford Are Creating Life

As many of you may know, ventilators are in high demand in most parts of the world. There are both issues with the number of ventilators available to health care providers, but also with the number of ventilators that are operational. Severe cases of COVID 19 are almost requiring patients to use ventilators which could be problematic if we do not have the proper supplies. Institutions and individuals such as MIT have noticed this problem and started working on the FDA approval of an emergency ventilator system (E-Vent). An amazing aspect of this project is that it is open-source, so as soon as the government gives approval on the design, the team will release all the data needed to replicate it. 

 

The design uses something that apparently is common: a manual resuscitator. This is a common medical device used to save patient’s lives by squeezing a small bag. Obviously, it is difficult to have a staff member continuously squeeze each bag, so MIT has created an Arduino powered motor to control the bag. Modeled after previous open sourced ideas, which MIT provides links to similar projects, MIT is embracing open-sourced culture while showing the world that innovation and creativity can prevail through these tumultuous times. 

 

This is an interesting example that reflects the world we are currently living in when the topic ‘air’ is brought up. We are at the point where we need top engineers to design ways to create artificial, open-sourced, ‘air.’ I am completely on board with MIT’s initiative in creating something economic, while effective and obtainable anywhere in the world, but when we take a step back and think about the time we are living in, the idea that the imagery that surrounds the air, really represents life, it’s very interesting. 

 

Another project I thought of when the topic of ‘air’ was mentioned was Stanford University’s “The Folding@Home project.” If you have extra computer space, the project uses everyone’s donated space to compute large data sets. This project uses computers from all over the world connected through the Internet to simulate protein folding. The idea is to create the data necessary to discover treatments that can have an impact on how the virus affects humanity. The calculations that Folding@Home computer is enormous and every bit of processing power helps. 

 

List of instructions on how to sign up for Folding@Home

 

https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/installation-guides/


 

Both of these examples come from leading research institutes in our country which should give us hope to fund this research for future projects. When the topic ‘air’ is mentioned in today’s society one must think of life itself. The two examples listed show how even our air is currently being mediated through electronics. As we become more cyborgian by the day, our relationship with the machine becomes more and more dependent. The framework for open-source medical devices through this time will help our civilization work as one instead of being brought down by the level of profit and capital.