Science
The engineering feat that enables a device to jolt a dangerously misbehaving heart back to its normal rhythm and save millions of lives is featured in our last Prized Science episode of 2013. The video features renowned inventor Esther S. Takeuchi, Ph.D., this year's winner of the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The award recognizes Takeuchi's work on a battery that powers implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). These devices monitor patients' heartbeats continuously. When the beats go haywire, it can deliver a life-saving shock to help the heart resume a normal rhythm.