Optics/​Photonics

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...

A new technology harnesses imperfections that typically compromise MRI exams to create images resolved enough to enable consistent diagnoses across populations for the first time. Traditional MRI radio waves “light up” some parts of a sample better than others, with imperfections blacking out areas...

Researchers at MIT and the University of Georgia developed software that can turn any smartphone into an eye-tracking device. The eye tracker uses machine learning, a technique in which computers learn to perform tasks by looking for patterns in large sets of training examples. The training set...

Combining the best features of a lobster and an African fish, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have created an artificial eye that sees in the dark. The technology could help brighten the dim surroundings presented from surgical scopes.

An "augmented reality telementoring" system built by researchers at Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine provides effective support to battlefield surgeons from specialists located thousands of miles away. The system uses a transparent display positioned between the...

Computer scientists at Stony Brook University are developing a virtual-heart platform to help improve and accelerate medical device development and testing. The CyberHeart project is part of the National Science Foundation’s initiative to advance the state-of-the-art in...

Using a single laser pulse, a group of researchers at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands has devised a method that allows silicon, in the polycrystalline form used in circuitry, to be produced directly on a paper substrate from liquid silicon ink. The process can be expanded to create...

NASA has patented a new technology called the Vision Chip, an implantable device that has the potential to restore or supplement visual function in a diseased or damaged retina. This technology could benefit millions of people in the US and globally who suffer from degenerative diseases of the eye’s...