Babies who are denied oxygen as they are being born have a high chance of suffering brain damage as a result. A simple but effective solution to the problem Oxygen can be cut off during birth by a kink in the umbilical cord or a problem getting oxygen from the mother. Oxygen starvation leads to brain cells committing suicide over the following three to four days.
Doctors say the new device means babies can avoid such damage by having their brains cooled.
At the moment the technique is on trial in New Zealand, but a large clinical trial is soon to start in the UK and US as well. The research features in the BBC's Tomorrow's World programme on Wednesday. The New Zealand trial is being run by Dr Tania Gunn and Professor Peter Gluckmann at the National Women's Hospital in Auckland. But when it's done in a controlled situation with careful monitoring of the heart rate and the blood pressure and the oxygen levels, we've shown that it's safe in the levels we've taken it to. The team had to develop the technology themselves, as no such equipment previously existed.