Radiation and Us: Visualising the Invisible

在这个名为“辐射和我们：让看不见的东西变得可见”的项目中，我们将在北爱尔兰首屈一指的互动科学中心W5开发互动展品和展览。这将通过皇后大学辐射医疗用途的研究人员和来自W5的科学传播专家的合作来完成。该项目的名称具有双重含义：辐射经常被用来使我们的内部变得可见，否则我们的内部将保持不可见。此外，在这个项目中，通过交互模拟，我们将使所有人都能看到看不见的辐射的详细行为。人们普遍对辐射持负面看法，认为它是一个神秘的实体。它通常与身体伤害、破坏、危险和核战争等负面事物联系在一起。这些负面联想可能会成为人们理解和学习的障碍。然而，辐射有许多有趣和积极的用途，包括医疗应用。辐射对于医疗诊断技术来说是无价的，从我们都知道的牙医的X光到更复杂的方法来制作人体内部的三维图像。放射治疗在癌症治疗中也是无价的，是仅次于手术的第二种最常见的治疗形式。我们希望透过说明辐射的正面用途背后的科学，吸引观众，并鼓励部分学生进一步学习相关科学。由于辐射的隐蔽性和与之相关的安全问题，小学生或普通公众不可能通过直接从事与辐射有关的活动来学习。然而，研究其医学用途的研究人员拥有复杂的计算机模拟，可以显示辐射是如何通过我们的身体传播的，无论是为了制作X射线图像，还是为了治疗癌症。我们将使用其中的一些模拟来开发一个互动展览，该展览将设在北爱尔兰首屈一指的互动科学中心W5，并由涵盖相同主题的节目支持。互动模拟亦会透过万维网和唯读光碟发放。这些模拟将会为12岁以上的学生带来教育上的裨益，同时亦会引起公众的兴趣。他们将向使用者提出一些挑战，比如制定放射治疗计划，避免患者敏感器官受到辐射，同时将足够的辐射摄入患者的肿瘤。将展示辐射轨迹，以展示辐射科学及其医学应用。用户将看到一些X射线和粒子的产生和停止的科学准确视图，因为它将发生在患者体内。这将采用粒子创建的轨迹的不断变化的动画显示的形式。用户将能够通过从不同方向发射辐射来与模拟交互，并查看X射线和粒子如何与身体不同部位进行不同的交互。例如，正如我们从X射线照片中知道的那样，骨骼阻止了更多的X射线，但在这些模拟中，我们都可以看到它发生在我们的眼前，使不可见辐射的行为变得可见。

In this project 'Radiation and Us: Making the Invisible Visible' we will develop interactive exhibits and shows to be situated in Northern Ireland's premier interactive science centre, W5. This will be done through a partnership of researchers into the medical uses of radiation from Queen's University and science communications experts from W5. The title of the project has a double meaning: radiation is often used to make visible of our insides which would otherwise remain invisible. Additionally, in this project, through the interactive simulations we will make the detailed behaviour of the invisible radiation visible to all.People generally have a negative view of radiation, considering it to be a mysterious entity. It is usually associated with negative things like bodily harm, destruction, danger and nuclear war. These negative associations can be a barrier to people's understanding and learning. However radiation has many interesting and positive uses including medical applications.Radiation is invaluable for medical diagnosis techniques ranging from the X-rays we all know from the dentist to more sophisticated ways of making three dimensional images of the insides of our bodies. Radiation is also invaluable in the treatment of cancer, being the second most common form of therapy after surgery. By illustrating the science behind these positive uses of radiation we hope to engage the audience and encourage some of the pupils to study the relevant sciences further.Because of radiation's invisibility and the safety concerns associated with it, it is not possible for school pupils or members of the general public to learn by doing activities involving radiation directly. However researchers into its medical uses have sophisticated computer simulations which show how the radiation travels through our bodies either for making X-ray images or for the treatment of cancer.We will use some of these simulations to develop an interactive exhibit to be situated in Northern Ireland's premier interactive science centre, W5 supported by shows covering the same topic. The interactive simulations will also be distributed using the World Wide Web and CD ROMs.These simulations will be designed to have an educational benefit for pupils from 12 years upwards but also to be of interest to the general public. They will present the user with challenges such as making a radiotherapy plan, avoiding a patient's sensitive organs with the radiation while getting enough of it into the patient's tumour. Radiation tracks will be displayed to demonstrate the science of radiation as well as its medical applications. The user will be presented with a scientifically accurate view of the creation and stopping of some of the X-rays and particles as it would occur inside a patient's body. This will take the form of an ever-changing animated display of the tracks created by the particles. The users will be able to interact with the simulations by sending in radiation from different directions and see how the X-rays and particles interact differently with different parts of the body. For example the bones stop more of the X-rays as we all know from X-ray photographs but in these simulations we can all see it happening before our eyes, making the behaviour of the invisible radiation visible.