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In many ways I do think that the NeuroArm has helped people. From going on to  removing a tumor to a new way to help find the early treatment of cancer. It has helped many people. As Kennedy said "Medicine in space is going to make our lives healthier and happier here on earth". I think that the NeuroArm has made life healthier and will continue to make more and more people happier. It has reached the expectations that Kennedy said in his speech.

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We are proud to announce the new International Space Station Benefits for Humanity website. Today's entry highlights how this international collaborative effort communicates positive impacts to life here on Earth from space station research and technology.

Last month at the International Space Station Heads of Agencies meeting in Quebec, Canada, my international counterparts and I had the opportunity to share the results of more than a year's worth of work across the international partnership. This collaboration culminated in the launch of the International Space Station Benefits for Humanity website, which looks at the early results from the space station and highlights those that have returned major benefits to humanity.

This website was translated into all the major partner languages and there also is a downloadable book format. The 28 stories found on the site focus on human health, education, and Earth observation and remote sensing, but these are just some of the benefit areas. Others, such as the knowledge gained for exploration or basic scientific discovery, are found on the space station results and news websites.

It can be a bit challenging at first see which station efforts will generate direct Earth benefits. This is because when we do the research, we finish things on orbit and then it can take two to five years for the results to publish, and possibly another five years after that before the knowledge yields concrete returns. I think each of us, while developing these stories, found things that surprised us. I suspect readers will, too. Some of these developments and findings are so amazing they go straight to your heart!

For example, the Canadian Space Agency robotic technology developed for the Canadarm was really cutting edge; now it has been applied to a robotic arm that can assist with surgery. Brain surgeons have used this robotic arm to help some patients who were not eligible for a standard operation, because the surgeries were too delicate for human hands. With the robotic assist, still in the testing phase, they were able to save the lives of several patients. This is a remarkable development.

Another area where space technology returns offer a benefit to humanity is in the ability to provide clean water in remote regions and disaster areas. We also have stories about the ability to use station related telemedicine to improve the success and survival for women and their babies, if they anticipate complications during delivery. Providing a remote diagnosis to women in hard-to-reach areas enables them to seek life-saving medical care. These are just a few of the remarkable returns from space technologies.

Scott Dulchavsky
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The website also includes stories that focus on the research knowledge obtained during station investigations. One particular area gaining attention is vaccine development. Scientists are now creating candidate vaccines for salmonella that fight food poisoning, as well as one in the works for MRSA-an antibiotic resistant bacteria that is very dangerous in hospitals.

We also see ongoing benefits in the area of Earth observation, which our Japanese colleagues compellingly described after the Fukushima earthquake in Japan. The Japanese people were responding to that event in such courageous ways. Having information about what was going on really helped and the global community mobilized all the possible Earth remote sensing resources to provide aid via imagery of the disaster. The station provided imagery and data of the flooding from the original tsunami surge. I would like to share with you the comments of my JAXA colleague, Shigeki Kamigaichi, who was on the ground after the disaster:

"The Earth observation by astronauts from the International Space Station brought us several impressive image data offerings. Furthermore, the crew comments concerning the tsunami damage from March 11, 2011, to the people who suffered gave us a feeling of oneness and relief ."

One of the exciting things about Earth observations work is that the station passes over populated parts of the world multiple times a day. Our Russian colleagues shared some examples of work they had done to track pollution in the Caspian Sea using data from the space station. They also used Uragan imagery to understand a major avalanche in the Russian Caucasus region, determining glacial melting as the root cause of the avalanche. These imaging efforts really help as we look at ways to better respond and predict disasters and prevent future loss of life.

Of course, there also are the compelling educational benefits from the space station. It is inspiring to see students get excited about science, technology, engineering and math, simply by connecting them to space exploration. Education is a bonus, since this is not why you build a laboratory like this. Once you have that laboratory, however, you can make a huge impact in children's futures.

One of the most widely influential examples of educational benefits are when we hear students from all over the world, not just station partners, using HAM radio contacts to speak with astronauts aboard station. This happens on the astronauts' free time, when they can just pick up the ham radio and contact hundreds of students through amateur radio networks. These children ask questions and learn about everything from space to life aboard the station to how to dream big. It is a recreational activity for the astronauts, taking just a few minutes, but the students are touched for a lifetime.

Because this effort is so readily routed internationally, students in developing countries can benefit just as easily as students in other areas. In fact, 63 countries already have participated with the space station; a much larger number than the 15 partner countries. Education activities are a core international benefit.

While this initial launch of the Benefits for Humanity website was a big release, it is something we plan to maintain and continue over time with our partners. The work for these derivatives of station activities will continue to roll out over time, but we anticipate it to grow. When you have hundreds of experiments active during any six-month period on orbit, the throughput and the amount of crew time going to research each week is unprecedented!

The experiments are being completed faster than ever before and we are going to see these benefits and results coming out much more quickly, so it is an exciting time. It is important to start talking about these developments as we turn the corner from assembly to the full mission of research aboard this one-of-a-kind orbiting laboratory.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

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Canadian Research - A Lab Aloft (International Space Station Research)

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We are proud to announce the new International Space Station Benefits for Humanity website. Today's entry highlights how this international collaborative effort communicates positive impacts to life here on Earth from space station research and technology.

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Robots and machines are evolving. From the time when we where first trying to figure out how to make a telephone to having AI's (artificial intelligence) and self-driving cars but out of all of this many people are questioning if these things can actually help us. As living proof that they can Paige Nickason was under going surgery to get rid of an egg shaped tumor and after under going three surgeries from other area's, the NeuroArm got rid of the tumor. Lets go back before all of this when it was just a regular machine that was made to be used for heavy lifting. On May 12 2008 the NeuroArm was invented at Canadarm and was developed by the MRI ( Master of Business Administration). It was made for heavy lifting but then they started to search for a surgical solution which helped it become world renowned.  In addition to, the KidsArm a copy of the NeuroArm has helped reconnect vessels,veins,arteries,and intestines for kids. Moreover in a way the collaboration with The Centre for the Surgical Invention and Innovation has helped cause a early detection to the treatment of the breast cancer by the NeuroArm image guide in the robot making better procedures. The NeuroArm has helped many people and has brought fourth the KidsArm and hopefully can bring even more to the world and in addition to, help even more people

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NeuroArm: Introducing an MRI-compatible image-guided computer-assisted device specifically designed for neurosurgery.

The project was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Western Economic Diversification, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, and the philanthropic community of Calgary. Close collaboration between MDA space robotic engineers of Canadarm fame, and University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services physicians, nurses and scientists were essential for the design and development of neuroArm. Click here to learn more about the project.

Watch the video to see neuroArm at work.

This project has created, for the first time, an image-guided MR-compatible robot for microsurgery and stereotaxy. Sited at the University of Calgary and Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the surgical robotic system promises to harness the precision and accuracy of robotics with the executive decision-making capacity of the human mind. When paired with the 3.0T intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging system, the surgeon is able to see, in near real time, the status of the lesion, the brain and the location of surgical tools in relationship. Click here to learn more about the project.

neuroArm's first case

May 12, 2008 - A team from the Foothills Medical Centre completed the first surgical removal of a brain lesion with the help of an image-guided neurosurgical robot, neuroArm. The patient, 21-year old Paige Nickason, had an olfactory groove meningioma, which was affecting her sense of smell, removed with no complications. Paige suffers from a medical condition, neurofibromatosis, that causes tumours to develop along her exiting cranial nerves. The surgery was the third neurosurgical procedure that she had undergone to date. "I had to have the tumour removed anyway, so I was happy to help by being a part of this historical surgery," Nickason said. Dr. Garnette Sutherland, the neurosurgeon performing the operation, manipulated the human-like robotic arms from an adjacent control room. Dr. Sutherland confirmed that the surgery was a success, in part due to the increased safety of the machine. "Robotic technology is intrinsically more precise and accurate compared to a surgeon's hand," Sutherland explained during the press conference, noting the robot can make more precise incisions and movements. The operation marks the first ever image-guided neurosurgical procedure performed with a robot. To view a photoset of the first case, click here.

Click here to learn more about the NeuroArm Project.

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The project was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Western Economic Diversification, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, and the philanthropic community of Calgary. Close collaboration between MDA space robotic engineers of Canadarm fame, and University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services physicians, nurses and scientists were essential for the design and development of neuroArm.