Discovery of the Physics Behind Vertigo

Physics and the Body's Balance System

             By: Courtney Caccia 

Vertigo and other balance disorders are very harmful to a great population of people.  The vestibular system, where these issues generally occur in, is greatly researched, however scientists struggle with how to specifically study the ear while the animal is in movement.  Physicists have recently discovered a way to activate the vestibular system without the animal moving.  In hopes that this will create much more accurate research and a new discovery, these scientists are hard at work.

    What is the vestibular system?

The vestibular system is responsible for controlling sensory information about the motion, equilibrium, and linear movement.  Vestibular organs on both sides of the head are intended to keep the body at balance, but when one is off, it sets the body off balance and can lead to a serious disorientation.

                                                                   

   What is the solution?

Physicists have discovered a type of optical physics and a technique known as optical trapping which essentially uses laser beams to hold and move microscopic objects.  When this experiment was done on zebrafish, applying forces that would be applied by actual movement, the responses displayed what looked like normal vestibular-stimuli movement, even though the objects were still.

Although, just a small step in a very intense experiment that still needs more research, it is a new discovery and helpful news.  

    Sources Used:

University of Queensland. "Vertigo and understanding the body's balance system." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 October 2017. 

Shumway-Cook A, Woollacott MH. Motor Control: Theory and Practical Applications. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2001.

Beck, J. C., Gilland, E., Tank, D. W. & Baker, R. Quantifying the ontogeny of optokinetic and vestibuloocular behaviors in zebrafish, medaka, and goldfish. J. Neurophysiol. 92, 3546–3561 (2004).