Curved lenses, like those in cameras or telescopes, are stacked in order to reduce distortions and resolve a clear image. A new fabrication method from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) replaces the stacks with a single flat lens.

A tiny mechanical wrist from a team of engineers and doctors at Vanderbilt University’s Medical Engineering and Discovery Laboratory will be used on needle-sized surgical robots. The wrist is less than 1/16th of an inch (2 mm) thick.