THE INSIDE STORIES FEATURES Mappingthe mystery 3 HP technical equipment is helping researchers uncover the mysteries of the human brain by measuring its magnetic fields. Cover illustration by Annette Yatovitz. Seoul mates 6 page 6 Hewlett-Packard has teamed up with Samsung in Seoul, Korea, to participate in one ofthe world's most dynamic markets. The plane truth about corporate travel 10 Those who do it know that business travel isn't fun. The bad news is it will probablyget worse before it gets better. ExtraOrdinary People 12 JeffLittfin, a California kid with sailing in his blood, had the adventure ofa lifetime racing in theAmerica's Cup. All in a day's work Paul Van Loan, Corvallis engineer, describes for Measure readers a plane trip he won't soon forget. DEPARTMENTS page 12 YourTurn 16 Letter from John Young 18 ~raMeasure 20 They play soccer inside in Silicon Valley; an international team set up to develop a common failure-tracking system. MEASURE Editor: Art director: Contributors: Jean Burke Annette Yatovitz MaryAnne Easley Katie Nutter Associate editor: Circulation: BettyGerard Kathleen Gogarty Measure is published six times a year far employees and associates of Hewlett-Packard Company. Produced page 21 by Carporate Public Relations. Internal Communication Department. Brad Whitworth. Manager. Address correspondence to Measure, Hewlett-Packard Company 20BR, PO Box 10301, Palo Alto, California, 94303-0890 USA (415) 857-4144. Report changes of address to your local personnel department. © Copyright 1987 by Hewlett-Packard Company. Material may be reprinted with permission. Member. International Association of Business Communicators. Hewlett-Packard Company is an international manufacturer of measurement and computation products and systems used in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine and education. HP employs more than 82,000 people worldwide. 2 MEASURE www.HPARCHIVE.com Mapping the mystery Dr. Ed Flynn studies the wonders of the human brain at Los Alamos National Laboratory, widely known as the birthplace of the world's first nuclear weapons. Even as you read this article, your brain is sending out weak magnetic fields that are about one-billionth the strength ofthe earth's magnetic field. With a computer-based technology he calls magneto­ encephalography (MEG), Dr. Ed Flynn could measure those fields and determine what part ofyour brain the activity is coming from. In time, the nuclear physicist hopes his current research at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico will lead to a great deal more knowledge about howyour brain works...and all from measuring those magnetic patterns that emerge as the brain's nerve cells "talk" to one another. Dr. Flynn hopes his research will one day have clinical applications for doctors working with patients suffering from wide-ranging disorders includingAlzheimer's disease, stroke, coma, parkinsonism, epilepsy, schizo­ phrenia, multiple sclerosis, brain damage and chemical March-April 1987 3 www.HPARCHIVE.com Mapping fhemysfery addictions. He's made plans to conduct position). Though this whole process "They tell you the anatomy of the brain MEG studies on two groups this year. takes the brain only a few tenths ofa and can say what the brain looks like. One includes people who suffer from second, each step is visible. We see where the activity is, what the dyslexia, an impairment of the ability The end result is a fascinating record brain is doing. It adds the dimension to read. In the other, he'll study a group ofwhen and where activities take place of time." ofchildren, now 12 and 13 years old, in the brain. A current technology used for brain who were born in comas. Even more Dr. Flynn hopes such knowledge of scanning that offers much the same futuristic applications may include the brain's activity will be helpful in information as MEG is positron emis­ measuringjob performance and test­ clinical settings, and that's where sion tomography (PET), invented at ing the brain's "overload" point, when his work is heading soon if funding Washington University in St. Louis, it receives too much information and is resolved. He is waiting for the go­ Missouri, in the early 70s. Assistant shuts down. ahead that will provide his Los Alamos Professor ofPsychiatry Dr. Eric Reiman This research is being conducted National Laboratory research the boost says PET provides regional information with the help ofHP equipment. Using of$1 million a year for a five-year joint about the biochemical and physiologi­ HP 9000 Series 500 Models 520 and effort with the Veteran's Administra­ cal processes in the human liVing 550 technical computers with a host of tion Medical Center in Albuquerque brain. These studies are based on the HP peripherals, includingTouchscreen and the University ofNew Mexico administration ofa positron-emitting personal computers, plotters, disc Hospital. The project will be based at radiotracer, the use ofa PET imaging drives and graphics systems, Ed is fol­ the VA hospital. system to record the distribution of lowing the brain's activities in series of An example he uses ofhow MEG radioactivity in the brain, and a mathe­ tests. BiomagneticTechnologies, Inc. research might be ofclinical use con- matical model to convert the radioactiv­ manufactures and se)]s the sensor ity into physiological information. devices, which interface with the HP In some cases, studies can be as briJ> system. BTi has sold the same set-up to The end resultis a as 40 seconds and can be repeated a' New York University and the University fascinating record of qUickly as every 10 minutes, says ofCalifornia at Los Angeles for their Iactivity in the brain. Dr. Reiman. Individuals can then be neuromagnetic research. studied before and during different The Los Alamos testing takes place cerns stroke patients. "We know from cognitive tasks or before and during in the basement of the Life Sciences CT (computed tomography) scans that different drug challenges to under­ building in a shielded room built to stroke victims lose use ofpart of their stand the neurobiology of these tasks offset the earth's powerful magnetic brain. But they relearn behaviors by and challenges. This makes PET, says field. Devices called SQUIDS (Super­ using another part of their brain. If we Dr. Reiman, an excellent tool for study­ conducting Quantum Interference could see what part, it might be stimu­ ing psychiatric disorders because of its Devices) have seven sensors each lated to speed rehabilitation." ability to locate and map how the brain that are filled wi th super-cooled With advanced tools, such as is functioning. liquid helium. When pressed against miniature versions of the SQUIDS to "We consider PET research to still be a subject's head, these sensors mea­ fit inside a helmet, brain activity might in its infancy," says Dr. Reiman. "And if sure the magnetic fields resulting be measured in a variety ofcircum­ PET research is an infant, we'rejust from the brain's electrical activity. stances, Dr. Flynn says. He says a possi­ The information flows directly to the ble technology for more mobile seflsors HP 9000 Model 520 in a nearby room. is a fiberoptic interferometer that could "Now, we're starting to With the sensors taking magnetic­ operate at room temperature. The U.S. get intosomeofthe field readings, the subjects are pre­ Air Force is interested in studying pil­ Iunknown." sented with different stimuli. Dr. Flynn ots to see how they react under stress has studied responses to tones, sounds during flight. The Army is interested in introducing the couple as far as MEG at different levels in each ear, flashing objective ways to approachjob recruit­ goes. The tools needed to accurately lights, and a request for the subject to ment for variousjobs. study minute regions of the brain flick his or her finger. By constantly MEG is but one tool of many that are instantaneouslyjustdo not existyet. " measuring the magnetic field, and currently being used to scan the brain. If MEG is successfullydeveloped, says mapping it out, Dr. Flynn says the sig­ Some fairly well-known medical meth­ Dr. Reiman, important advantages will nals in the brain can be "seen" before, ods include ultrasound, CT scans, include its potential to look at much during and after each stimulus. First, magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) smaller regions of the brain than cur­ the brain will perceive the signal and and electroencephalography (EEG). rently possible, to be able to measure register a desire to respond; then the These methods are used basically to the activity in milliseconds, and to do brain sends a signal to the body (to flick locate tumors or brain diseases. Ed these things non-invasively. "With a finger for instance); finally, the brain Flynn says MEG's most important research tools like PET and MEG, we acknowledges that the command has contribution is that the technology have tremendous potential for under­ been fulfilled (the finger has changed goes beyond that to show function. standing how the human brain works." 4 MEASURE www.HPARCHIVE.com Researchers at New York University are also using HP equipment in neu­ romagnetic research. Drs. Lloyd Kaufman and Samuel J. Williamson conduct their research at New York's Bellevue Hospital and at Washington Square on the NYU cam­ pus. The neuromagnetometer they use at Bellevue has a total of22 channels from which to take readings of the magnetic fields. Drs. Kaufman and Williamson use the HP 9000 Model 550 to analyze the findings, as well as to interpret EEG charts for comparison. The Washing­ ton Square sensor was the prototype for the model Ed Flynn is using at Los Alamos. Dr. Kaufman says David Cohen, then in Ohio and now at the Massachussetts Institute ofTechnology, was the first seven supercooled SQUIDS pick up the magnetic fields generated from Los Alamos to use a similar technique to measure researcher Deborah Arthur's brain.