Gold-plated hydrocephalus shunt valve consulting case

Bob Rose (Tom's thesis advisor) consulting on MD-proposed gold-plated stainless shunt; demonstrated galvanic attack by presenting weekend-corroded saline jar at NY meeting.

I had another story on that. My thesis advisor used to do a lot of biomedical work. Anybody know what hydrocephalus is? It's water on the brain. Certain people generate lots of fluid in the brain, it generates pressure, and it can damage the brain, sort of like a concussion. They actually will put a valve up here and run it down to your stomach, and it'll drain that excess fluid from the brain down into the stomach. I worked on a thing a few years ago with a design group here at MIT — students looking at a valve so they could implant this valve on top of the brain and you could push a button if you felt the pressure. You could just push at one particular point, open up the valve, and drain it.