Many of the greatest inventions in modern medicine were developed by physicists who imported technologies such as X rays, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound, particle accelerators and radioisotope tagging and detection techniques into the medical domain.

There they became magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scanning, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and various radiotherapy treatment methods. These contributions have revolutionized medical techniques for imaging the human body and treating disease.

In 2008, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is calling attention to the field of medical physics achievements.

The best way to do that? Make a top 5 list and publish it here.

Scientists have long known that most compounds in living things exist in mirror-image forms. The two forms are like hands; one is a mirror reflection of the other. They are different, cannot be superimposed, yet identical in their parts.

When scientists synthesize these molecules in the laboratory, half of a sample turns out to be “left-handed” and the other half “right-handed.” But amino acids, which are the building blocks of terrestrial proteins, are all “left-handed,” while the sugars of DNA and RNA are “right-handed.” The mystery as to why this is the case, “parallels in many of its queries those that surround the origin of life,” says Sandra Pizzarello, a research professor at Arizona State University.

An important discovery has been made with respect to the mystery of this “handedness” in biomolecules. Some of the possible abiotic precursors to the origin of life on Earth have been shown to carry “handedness” in a larger number than previously thought.

It has been a mystery why unusually severe epidemics of influenza occur from time to time, such as in 1947 and 1951, when illness and mortality rates exceeded standard epidemic levels.

The standard model of human influenza virus evolution holds that major influenza pandemics, the largest of which occurred in 1918, are caused by reassortment between human and avian influenza viruses. But seasonal influenza epidemics, which occur each winter in the United States, do not involve the reassortment of genetic material.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the National Institute of Health used an evolutionary analysis of influenza viruses sampled from 1918 – 2005 to investigate the influenza viruses that cause seasonal epidemics in humans, particularly those where mortality was unusually high.

The distinctive ability of mothers to identify the cries of their offspring is widely evident in nature, where it is critical to the survival of these offspring. In humans, we are aware that the distinctive ability of mothers to recognize and respond to the smiles and cries of their babies plays an important role in the psychological, cognitive, and social development of these babies.

We have had a very limited understanding of how the maternal brain accomplishes these amazing feats, but a new study published in Biological Psychiatry now provides some new insight.

Noriuchi, Kikuchi, et al. used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a tool that enables scientists to study the function of brain circuits in people, to examine patterns of maternal brain activation.

While its known that cigarette smoking can cause cancer it has been unclear how cigarette smoke causes healthy lung cells to become cancerous.

Researchers from U.C. - Davis say that hydrogen peroxide (or similar oxidants) in cigarette smoke is the culprit. This finding may help the tobacco industry develop “safer” cigarettes by eliminating such substances in the smoke, while giving medical researchers a new avenue to developing lung cancer treatments.

“With the five-year survival rate for people with lung cancer at a dismally low 15.5 percent, we hope this study will provide better insight into the identification of new therapeutic targets,” said Tzipora Goldkorn, senior author of the report.

A highly specialised computer modelling technique developed at The University of Nottingham has been instrumental in the design of a revolutionary new swimsuit which is now being hailed as the fastest in the world.

Dr Herve Morvan, a lecturer in fluid mechanics in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, is working as an advisor to the AQUALAB, Speedo’s competition research and development department, responsible for the development of Speedo’s new LZR Racer swimsuit.

Within a week of its launch athletes wearing the new swimsuit had broken three world records.