A Really Smart Dummy On The Way

You really can learn a lot from a dummy. For decades, automakers have been crashing test dummies to gain insight to how various auto safety systems protect - or fail to protect - people during car accidents. But those dummies are made of plastic and steel, not tissue and bone. They can teach only so much. A new generation of dummies will tell a lot more. An international group of automakers and suppliers has formed a Global Human Body Models Consortium to fund the best minds to build a better dummy. Two teams of engineers with U.Va.'s Center for Biomechanics will play major roles in the creation of this new "virtual" dummy, one that will live entirely within computers, but will be more realistic than any physical dummy ever subjected to a crash test. These will be highly detailed computer dummies - computational models of a full human being - including extreme lifelike detail of the complexities and characteristics of flesh, bones, ligaments, blood vessels and organs.

Went to a friends house the other day. He works for a health system that had a picture on one of their glossy brochures featuring two crash dummies: Vince and Larry. Well, I'm the latter and Vince is another great racquetball friend that I am in the habit of beating soundly! (It's a blog. Back!) What a coincidence. Despite my continued annoyance at first friend, I think this is a good opportunity to use the picture!              Pooch Doggy Dog

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/132813.php

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