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When babies are born with congenital heart defects, like a hole, time is of the essence to quickly and safely secure a device inside the heart. Sutures take too long and can cause damage to fragile heart tissue, and currently available adhesives are either too toxic or lose their sticking power in the...

Researchers at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, a leading technology university, say they have developed electronic components that are so thin and flexible they can even be wrapped around a single hair without damaging the electronics. This may open up new possibilities for ultra-thin, transparent...

A study conducted by the Scripps Translational Science Institute, San Diego, has found that a small adhesive wireless device worn on the chest for up to two weeks does a better job detecting abnormal and potentially dangerous heart rhythms than the traditional Holter monitor,...

A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore has successfully developed a method to chemically exfoliate molybdenum disulfide crystals into high quality monolayer flakes, with a higher yield and larger flake size than current methods. These flakes can then be made into a printable solution,...

A team of researchers at Aalto University, Finland, developed a method to select new surface treatment processes for orthopaedic and dental implants that may reduce the risk of infection. Implants are commonly made from metals, such as titanium alloys, which are made porous during processing used to...

While vanadium dioxide is already known for its ability to change size, shape, and physical identity, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say that super strength can now be added to that list of attributes. They demonstrated a micro-sized robotic...

A new optical device about the size of a hand-held video camera, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, can scan a patient’s entire retina in seconds and could aid primary care physicians in early detection of many retinal diseases, including diabetic retinopathy,...

A team of scientists from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, and the University of Kansas Medical Center have restored behavior using a neural prosthesis in a rat model of brain injury. Ultimately, the team hopes to develop a device that rapidly and substantially improves function...

With all of the mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs recently, few, if any, prosthetic limbs send sensory information back to the wearer, giving them a realistic sense of touch. That could soon, change, due to research being conducted at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western...

Medical devices are not always one size fits all, especially with regard to child-sized devices. The Philadelphia Regional Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (PPDC) brings together engineers and biomedical researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Drexel...

Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and California's IBM Research - Almaden (IBM) have discovered a new, potentially life-saving application for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is widely...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed prototype calibration tools for an experimental medical imaging technique that offers new advantages in diagnosing and monitoring of certain cancers and possibly other medical conditions.

Additive manufacturing is a method of making 3D objects by building up material, layer upon layer, using a digital design. And, the number of technologies customized and created using additive manufacturing processes is growing each year. But did you know that many of the foundational techniques for...

When designing devices, engineers often must join together materials that expand and contract at different rates as temperatures change. Such thermal differences can cause problems if, for instance, a semiconductor chip is plugged into a socket that can’t expand and contract rapidly enough to maintain an...

Small optical devices can be valuable as diagnostic imaging tools within the body, for instance, as optical probes with a 360-degree view in the gastrointestinal tract. A new microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) silicon chip developed by researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research...

A robot, created by of a joint collaboration between researchers of the High School of Industrial Engineers of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in Spain and the Gliatech S.L Company, can be used to guide precise insertion of needles and catheters. It has a hybrid powerstrain structure...

Using a novel rehabilitation device that converts an individual’s thoughts to electrical impulses to move upper extremities, stroke patients reported improvements in their motor function and ability to perform activities of daily living. A multidisciplinary team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison built the...

Plastics can be made scratch-proof and flame-proof, or given antibacterial properties through the addition of nano-sized additives mixed in with the pellets of plastic during the manufacturing process. However, the particle distribution within the plastic compound must be absolutely precise. A new device being...

How can you measure forces acting between two components within a device without drilling holes or sticking on a sensor? Researchers at the Technischen Universität Darmstadt, Germany, have developed a simple solution: a screw with an integrated sensor.

Electromagnetic fields can interfere with or damage electronic devices. Electromagnetic radiation is invisible to people. A new measuring instrument being developed by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Muenchen, Germany, can help determine the strength, frequency, and direction of the attack.

A team of researchers from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a new and potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries.

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, have taken a quantum leap toward understanding the exciting phenomenon of superconductivity. They have created the world’s smallest SQUID, a Superconducting QUantum Interference Device, used to measure magnetic fields, breaking the world...

A team of researchers at Kansas State University, Manhattan, are developing improvements for astronauts' outerwear. The team, which includes electrical and computer engineering professors and more than a dozen students, envisions a future spacesuit that could monitor astronauts'...

A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, have received a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for its project to perfect the technology to steer a robotic catheter through the heart’s beating chambers using the push and pull of magnetic fields while...

Researchers from the Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry in the University of Helsinki’s Department of Chemistry in Finland have managed to draw in an alcohol-based solution using laser light. The research was published in the journal, Macromolecules.

A researcher at Western New England University, Springfield, MA, has created a novel hand-held, noninvasive monitoring device that uses multilayer nanotechnology to detect acetone has been shown to correlate with blood-glucose levels in the breath of diabetics. Ronny Priefer, PhD, created the...

A team of researchers from Georgia Tech, the University of Tokyo, and Microsoft Research have developed a novel method to rapidly and inexpensively make electrical circuits by printing them with commodity inkjet printers and off-the-shelf materials. For about $300 in equipment costs, anyone can produce working...

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) provides tremendous promise for cancer patients due to its ability to destroy tumor cells while protecting surrounding healthy tissue. Yet its clinical use has been limited by the size of the massive electron accelerators called synchrotrons needed to generate the...

Nitric oxide (NO) carries messages within the brain and coordinates immune system functions. It appears to have contradictory roles in cancer progression, and researchers at MIT in Cambridge, MA, are working to understand this better by creating a new tool to measure it in the body in real time. They have...