Computer vision enables contact-free 3D printing, letting engineers print with high-performance materials they couldn’t use before. With 3D inkjet printing systems, engineers can fabricate hybrid structures that have soft and rigid components, like robotic grippers that are strong enough to grasp heavy objects but soft enough to interact safely with humans. These multimaterial 3D printing systems utilize thousands of nozzles to deposit tiny droplets of resin, which are smoothed with a scraper or roller and cured with UV light. But…
New robotic system assesses mobility after stroke. A new robotic tool developed by USC researchers could help stroke survivors track their recovery progress. Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. Each year more than 15 million people worldwide have strokes, and three-quarters of stroke survivors will experience impairment, weakness and paralysis in their arms and hands. Many stroke survivors rely on their stronger arm to complete daily tasks, from carrying groceries to combing their hair, even when the…
A new biologic “patch” that is activated by a person’s natural motion could be the key to fixing herniated discs in people’s backs, according to researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the CMC VA Medical Center (CMCVAMC). Combining years of work from many different projects, the “tension-activated repair patches” (TARPs) provide controlled release of an anti-inflammatory molecule called anakinra from microcapsules over time, which helped discs in a large animal model regain the…
Research that could lead to the first early detection blood test for pancreatic cancer has received critical funding from PanKind, The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. Pancreatic cancer is one of Australia’s biggest killers, with poor survival rates marred by a lack of distinct symptoms and screening tools needed to detect the disease in its initial stages. It’s hoped the test will, for the first time, accurately identify patients with early stages of pancreatic cancer – a crucial step towards improving…
Patient receives first ear canal implant with drug release from 3D printer. For the first time, the ENT clinic at Hannover Medical School (MHH) has provided an adult patient with a customized implant for the external auditory canal featuring drug release benefits. The implant is 3D printed and additionally designed to continuously and locally release an active ingredient to accelerate healing. “We have thus opened the door to a new type of pioneering patient care,” explains ENT clinic director Prof….
GyroTrainer with artificial intelligence. 18 percent of reported sick leave relates to musculoskeletal ailments, in particular back-related disorders. The GyroTrainer is an intelligent training device that resembles a balance board. It uses artificial intelligence to adjust the difficulty level to the individual patient’s current ability. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in cooperation with partner companies have developed a device to provide back muscle. With the GyroTrainer, back strengthening exercises are adapted to the strength and ability of…
Genetic switch rescues old fish from fasting trap. Health is thought to be improved by fasting interventions, which involve alternating periods of fasting and feeding. But this doesn’t work as well in old animals. By studying the short-lived killifish, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne have shown that older fish deviate from a youthful fast and refeed cycle, and instead enter a state of perpetual fasting, even when feeding. However, the benefits of refeeding…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. Until now, AI applications generally have “black box” character: How AI arrives at its results remains hidden. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath, a cheminformatics scientist at the University of Bonn, and his team have developed a method that reveals how certain AI applications work in pharmaceutical research. The results are unexpected: the AI programs largely remembered known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting drug potency. The results have now been published…
For a magnet to stick to a fridge door, inside of it several physical effects need to work together perfectly. The magnetic moments of its electrons all point in the same direction, even if no external magnetic field forces them to do so. This happens because of the so-called exchange interaction, a combination of electrostatic repulsion between electrons and quantum mechanical effects of the electron spins, which, in turn, are responsible for the magnetic moments. This is common explanation for…
Frontier sets new pace for artificial intelligence… The team that built Frontier set out to break the exascale barrier, but the supercomputer’s record-breaking didn’t stop there. “The exascale number marks a major milestone itself, but it also marks the beginning of a new chapter in high-speed computing,” said Feiyi Wang, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory computer scientist who leads research into artificial intelligence and analytics. “We don’t have to wait for the next generation of computing anymore. We can have…
CALET instrument detects electrons arriving with more energy than ever recorded before. A new study using data from the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) instrument on the International Space Station has found evidence for nearby, young sources of cosmic ray electrons, contributing to a greater understanding of how the galaxy functions as a whole. The study included more than seven million data points representing particles arriving at CALET’s detector since 2015, and CALET’s ability to detect electrons at the highest energies…
The special requirements placed on trucks and agricultural machinery often make it difficult for engineers to bring them into the electric age. At the Agritechnica agricultural machinery fair researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are now showing what a modular development kit for electric tractors can look like. Their platform features modules for various uses and a power bank which can be used as a replacement battery when necessary. The agricultural industry is among those economic sectors most…
Web tool looks belowground for an economically viable renewable energy source. Geothermal power has a lot of promise as a renewable energy source that is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but it has some challenges to wide adoption. One of these challenges is that there are a limited number of locations in the U.S. that naturally have the right conditions: hot rock relatively close to the surface and with plentiful groundwater to heat up. Closed-loop…
Researchers at the universities in Mainz, Cologne, and Oldenburg gain important insights into a cryptochrome protein involved in synchronization of marine organisms’ inner lunar calendar with moon phases. JOINT PRESS RELEASE OF JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY MAINZ AND THE UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE In a recent publication in “Nature Communications”, a joint research team of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the University of Cologne, and the University of Oldenburg has presented their findings on the functioning of an atypical cryptochrome protein (Cry)….
Fatty acids are essential in all living organisms: to store energy, form membranes, and multiply. They are produced by a complex cellular machinery – the fatty acid synthase (FAS). A team of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences, led by Ashwin Chari and Holger Stark, have now visualized the FAS structure in unprecedented detail. This allows the direct observation of enzymatic reactions and the reconstruction of structural transitions within a fatty acid synthesis cycle. The findings enable new…
How fungal proteins efficiently make ice. Snow and hail are formed in clouds, while fungi and other microorganisms thrive on the ground. But the fact that the two can be related, with microbes influencing ice formation in clouds, has been studied in more detail only in recent years. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research led by Konrad Meister have now investigated in more detail how microbes achieve ice formation at the molecular level and how it can…
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