Dispensary Corner 24 Jun 13
June 24, 2013
THERE may have been chocolate overload on one of the stands at last weekend’s NSW Pharmacy National Convention & Exhibition in Sydney. Dose Innovations demonstrated its extensive range of automated dispensary robots, including a huge Rowa system which was able to pick and pack items selected by a pharmacist using an iPad in the front of shop. Also fascinating was an MDM machine which allowed medications to be automatically packed into Dose Administration Aids for nursing home patients. We’re not sure what conditions they were being treated for, because a close examination of the items dispensed revealed that the clients had actually been prescribed various colours of M&Ms (below).
ANOTHER groundbreaking research finding released this week reveals that plants are actually able to do complex arithmetic calculations. According to a study from the UK’s John Innes Centre, plants adjust their rate of starch consumption to prevent starvation during the night, with an internal clock - similar to the human circadian rhythm - able to estimate the time until dawn. One of the researchers, Alison Smith, said understanding how plants continue to grow in the dark could help unlock new ways to boost crop yield. The report didn’t mention whether there was a link from the study to the term “square root”.
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