R&D

A multidisciplinary research team led by University of Houston scientist Jarek Wosik has developed a high-temperature superconducting coil that allows magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to produce higher resolution images or acquire images in a shorter time than when using conventional coils....

Rice University physicists have discovered that a combination of titanium and gold provides a new standard for artificial knee and hip joints.

Many things in the natural world are geometrically chiral, meaning they cannot be superimposed onto their mirror image. Being able to observe and analyze the chirality of an object is very important in numerous fields. However, current chiral imaging techniques to resolve polarization and spectral...

A group of graduate students from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, devised a sandal-like controller that allows a video game player to control the on-screen action with his feet. The team — dubbed GEAR, for Game Enhancing Augmented Reality — created the device for amputees or those with...

Researchers in MIT’s Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, have created “Cilllia,” a new computational method for designing and 3D printing artificial hair. 3D printers have been unable to print hair, fur, and other dense arrays of extremely fine features that require a huge amount of computational time and power.

Capturing all transmitted electrons allows quantitative measurement of a material’s properties, such as internal electric and magnetic fields, which are important for use of the material in memory and electronics applications. A research group at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, has developed and...

Professors David Blaauw and David Wenzloff of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, are designing millimeter-scale, ultra-low-power sensing systems that can be injected into the body through a syringe. Unlike other similarly-sized radios, these new...

A knee band from the Georgia Institute of Technology uses microphones and vibration sensors to listen to and measure the sounds inside the joint. The sounds will help doctors determine whether a convalescing joint is healthy or requires more therapy.

For athletes looking to track their workouts or physicians who want to monitor a patient's heart disease, a flexible Chem-Phys patch from the University of California San Diego analyzes the body's biochemical and electric signals. The Chem-Phys wearable technology records electrocardiogram...

A team of Johns Hopkins University students, working with a Johns Hopkins physician and outside experts, has designed a prosthetic fit for high heels. The "Prominence" foot adapts to popular fashion for heels up to four inches high.

English ivy has the ability to latch on so tight to trees and buildings that the plant can withstand the winds of hurricanes and tornadoes. Researchers from The Ohio State University pinpointed the spherical particles within English ivy’s adhesive and identified the primary protein within them.

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 team of University of Wisconsin—Madison engineers has created the world’s fastest stretchable, wearable integrated circuits.

Stroke patients must typically undergo arduous and repetitive rehabilitation to relearn the basic skills they lose. A team of students from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, is using smartphones to improve the process.

University of Wisconsin—Madison engineers fabricated a transistor that operates at a record 38 gigahertz. The team built the high-performance device using huge rolls of flexible plastic.

Iowa State engineers have developed micro-sized liquid-metal particles for heat-free soldering and metal processing applications.

Dissolvable silicon electronics offer an unprecedented opportunity to implant advanced monitoring systems, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Implantable brain devices that literally melt away at a pre-determined rate, for...

By blending pulverized natural bone with man-made plastic, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University 3D-printed replacement skeletal structures of the head and face, including the lower jaw of a female patient. The team's composite material combines the strength and printability of plastic...

Researchers at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have demonstrated a tiny origami robot that unfolds itself from a swallowed capsule. Steered by external magnetic fields, the bot can crawl across the stomach wall to remove...

A mobile container from Rice University sterilizes surgical instruments in low-resource settings. The "Sterile Box," built into a standard 20-foot steel shipping container, houses a water system for decontamination and a solar-powered autoclave for steam sterilization.