- What keeps your heart and rhythm?

Electricity.

And when that electricity gets out of sync, things can go wrong.

For millions of people that used to be a life-threatening problem, but thanks to one Buffalo inventor and a surprising mistake in his workshop, the implantable pacemaker was born.

In this episode of Compact Ccience, we'll explore our heart and circulatory system, the importance of heart bioelectricity, and learn how one invention from Western New York keeps millions of hearts beating around the world.

(upbeat playful music) Your body has three main kinds of muscle, and each one does different things.

Skeletal muscle moves your bones, and it's what you use to move.

You can control these muscles on purpose, which is why they're called voluntary muscles.

Smooth muscle is found inside places like your stomach, intestines, and blood vessels.

You don't usually notice these because they work automatically to move food, push blood, and keep things flowing.

Finally, let's show some love for cardiac muscle or myocardium, which makes up your heart.

Your heart is an amazing muscle about the size of your fist, and it never takes a break.

It beats around 100,000 times a day, pumping blood all throughout your body.

That blood carries oxygen and nutrients, which are like the fuel your body needs to play, learn, and grow.

Your heart is also an electrical machine.

Every beat starts with a tiny spark of electricity inside the heart.

That spark travels across the heart like a wave, telling each part when to squeeze.

But first, the top chambers or the atria squeeze.

Then the bottom chambers or ventricles follow.

If those sparks don't travel right, the beat gets mixed up.

Kind of like when a drummer loses the rhythm.

Our brains and hearts even talk to each other using this electricity.

Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons, and they talk to each other with tiny electrical signals.

Have you ever been scared and felt your heartbeat speed up?

That's your brain sending a signal to speed up your heart to move your blood around faster.

That's also why your he beats faster when you run or feel excited.

When you're calm, it sends a signal to slow it down.

Inside the top of your heart is a tiny spot called the sinoatrial node, or SA node for short.

Think of it as the drummer of your heart's band, keeping the beat steady, so all the chambers play in rhythm.

Sometimes, though, the drummer plays the wrong rhythm.

That's when the heart might beat too slowly, too quickly, or skip beats altogether.

When that happens, doctors have a way to get the heart back in rhythm.

They use a special device called a pacemaker placed just under the skin, near the heart.

It sends out gentle electrical pulses, like tiny sparks that tell the heart when to beat.

It's like giving the heart a smart helper that never forgets the rhythm.

Modern pacemakers are so good that people who have them can go to school, play sports, dance, and even swim.

Some pacemakers can even talk to doctors' computers and send them information about how the heart is doing.

We have a Buffalonian to thank for this technology.

Wilson Greatbatch was an electrical engineer from Buffalo, New York, and he loved to tinker.

In 1956, he was building an oscillator, or a device to help doctors record heart sounds, but he accidentally put the wrong resistor into his circuit.

Instead of recording, the machine made a steady pulse, pulse, pulse, sound, just like a heartbeat.

Greatbatch realized that this could regulate the heart's rhythm.

This led him to create the first pacemaker small enough to go inside the body.

He worked with doctors at Buffalo's Veterans Hospital, and by 1960, they implanted the first pacemaker in a patient.

Wilson Greatbatch didn't stop there.

He kept improving his invention and even created a new kind of lithium battery that made pacemakers last for years, instead of just months, which is a lot safer for patients.

Over his lifetime, he collected more than 350 patents for his inventions.

He once said, "Failure is a learning experience.

If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough."

Because of his work, millions of people around the world are alive today, and it all started with a Buffalo inventor and a happy little accident.

(people clapping) This looks like a funny plastic tube, right?

This is an energy stick.

Inside the tube, there are some wires and LEDs, and on the outside you'll notice two pieces of metallic tape.

So, but how do we make it go?

How do we turn it on?

So the trick is it doesn't have a switch.

There are no buttons.

I'm going to be the switch.

So if I touch one end, nothing really happens.

But if I touch both sides with this tape.

(electronic screeching sound) Woo, I am.

I'm the switch, I guess.

Yeah, there we go.

So the energy stick is lighting up because I made a complete circuit with my own body.

Oh, so fun.

Electricity can only move when there's a path all the way around, kind of like water flowing through a hose.

If I let go, the path is broken and the electricity can't flow anymore.

That's why the lights go off.

Your body also uses electricity.

Your brain sends electricity through your neurons, all over your body.

This is also the electricity that tells your heart when to beat.

Every single heartbeat is powered by a little electrical signal.

We can piggyback on this electricity to make this energy stick light up.

(electronic screeching sound) When the circuit is complete, the electricity flows and the beat keeps going.

When sparks don't fire the way they should, that's when a pacemaker steps in, like a backup energy stick inside your chest.

So remember, your body is electric, your brain, your nerves and your heart all run on tiny currents of energy, and that's what keeps you thinking, moving and playing every day.

(mysterious music) We've learned that your heart isn't just a muscle, it's electric.

Every single beat is triggered by tiny sparks of electricity.

Now, it's your turn.

Try our Compact Science Viewer Challenge.

We have a fun experiment where you can test your own heart's rhythm.

Get all the instructions on our website and be sure to share your results.

I'm Sarajane Gomlak-Green, and you've been watching Compact Science.

Until next time, stay curious.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Compact Science is funded in part by the Joy Family Foundation.

- He was building an oscillator or a devoice, devoice?

A devoice.

A devoice?

Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle jiggle.

Okay.

Your brain sends electricity through your neuron, geez, neurons.

I am the switch.

You two can be the switch children.

(soft playful music)