The North Star, on Your Wrist
| August 12, 2006 |  View for printing |
MARK L. WITTEN studies the possible link between airborne metals and clusters of childhood leukemia cases in certain areas. Last year, as part of his research, he hung bits of lichen on about 60 mesquite trees in a mountainous area of Sierra Vista, Ariz., to trap airborne tungsten and arsenic.
This July, when he went back to collect and analyze the lichen, one mesquite tree looked much like the next. But he knew just where the lichen packets were.
“All the information to find them was right on my wrist,” he said.
On his wrist, Dr. Witten, a professor in the pediatrics department at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, wears an unusual object. It looks like a slightly oversized wristwatch and it keeps time with great accuracy — but it is much more than a watch. It is a wrist computer that includes among its many functions a global positioning system receiver.
By ANNE EISENBERG
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/bu ... oref=slogin
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