The device is printed all in one go and can pick and release objects. This soft robotic gripper is not only 3D printed in one print, it also doesn’t need any electronics to work. The device was developed by a team of roboticists at the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with researchers at the BASF corporation, who detailed their work in a recent issue of Science Robotics. The researchers wanted to design a soft gripper that would be…
Göttingen research team explores information processing in Deep Neural Networks. Artificial neural networks are everywhere in research and technology, as well as in everyday technologies such as speech recognition. Despite this, it is still unclear to researchers what is exactly going on deep down in these networks. To find out, researchers at the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN) at Göttingen University, and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPI-DS) have carried out an information-theoretic…
Physicists at the University of Würzburg have succeeded in making a new imaging technique ready for use on humans. Radioactive markers and radiation are not necessary for this. Imaging techniques such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and ultrasound have become indispensable in the medical world. Each method not only opens up unique insights into the inside of people, but also allows physicians to draw conclusions about defects or functional processes in the human body. A team…
New Method to Assemble Unconventional Materials. A hot bath is a place to relax. For scientists, it is also where molecules or tiny building blocks meet to form materials. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) take it to the next level and use the energy of swimming bacteria to forge materials. A recent study in Nature Physics shows us how this works and the potential sustainability benefits that may arise from this innovative approach. You never…
Researchers at Leipzig University have developed a highly efficient method to investigate systems with long-range interactions that were previously puzzling to experts. These systems can be gases or even solid materials such as magnets whose atoms interact not only with their neighbours but also far beyond. Professor Wolfhard Janke and his team of researchers use Monte Carlo computer simulations for this purpose. This stochastic process, named after the Monte Carlo casino, generates random system states from which the desired properties…
To help bring therapies for rare muscle diseases in children to market sooner, the Berlin-based start-up MyoPax, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has now received a boost from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company has been granted the FDA’s orphan drug designation (ODD) and rare pediatric disease designation (RPDD), both of which offer multiple regulatory and financial advantages – including fast-track approval status and, eventually, market exclusivity. But first, the…
Automated analysis of microplastics. How high are concentrations of microplastics in the environment, in our drinking water or in foods? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automated analysis method for the identification and quantification of particles. Microplastics are everywhere in the environment. The tiny particles, with diameters of less than 5 millimeters, can also absorb and transport contaminants and toxins. “We urgently need analytical techniques to learn about the size, concentration and composition of these…
Researchers devise an approach to vastly enhance the near-infrared absorption in silicon, which could lead to affordable, high-performance photonic devices. Photonic systems are quickly gaining traction in many emerging applications, including optical communications, lidar sensing, and medical imaging. However, the widespread adoption of photonics in future engineering solutions hinges on the cost of manufacturing photodetectors, which, in turn, largely depends on the kind of semiconductor utilized for the purpose. Traditionally, silicon (Si) has been the most prevalent semiconductor in the…
… innovates how biological materials are stored and handled. Scientists have developed a novel method for storing biological materials such as RNA and proteins in a solid-state. The storage in solid-state resembles the form of a pill or a tablet, which dissolves in water for on-demand use. The innovation provides a new way to overcome current limitations in the storage and handling of products derived from living cells used for a variety of health care and scientific research purposes. Biological…
… could transform detection and treatment of cancers. A tiny robot which can travel deep into the lungs to detect and treat the first signs of cancer has been developed by researchers at the University of Leeds. The ultra-soft tentacle, which measures just 2 millimetres in diameter and is controlled by magnets, can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes and could transform the treatment of lung cancer. It paves the way for a more accurate, tailored, and far less…
Predicting molecular rotational temperature for enhanced plasma recombination. Humans may never be able to tame the Sun, but hydrogen plasma — making up most of the Sun’s interior — can be confined in a magnetic field as part of fusion power generation: with a caveat. The extremely high temperature plasmas, typically as high as 100 million degrees Celsius, confined in the tokamaks — donut-shaped fusion reactors — cause damage to the containment walls of these mega devices. Researchers inject hydrogen and…
International team of scientists reports in Nature the first detection of a quasi-periodic oscillation signal in the radio band from a Galactic black hole system. Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe, with features that sound like they come straight from a sci-fi movie. Stellar-mass black holes with masses of roughly 10 suns, for example, reveal their existence by eating materials from their companion stars. And in some instances, supermassive black holes accumulate at the center of…
Novel magnetic memories are energy-efficient and robust. They are based on ferromagnets with operating frequencies in the gigahertz range. The operating frequency could be further increased with antiferromagnets, which, however, cannot be efficiently excited. Researchers from Kaiserslautern and Mainz have now shown that magnetic heterostructures – based on a thin antiferromagnet/ferromagnet bilayer – can combine the advantages of both material classes: A high working frequency with efficient excitation. The work has been published in the renowned journal Physical Review Letters…
FAU research project about robotic assistance systems receives approximately 2 million euros in funding. A robot performing surgery on humans. What sounds like science fiction could provide support to physicians in the operating room in future. In the “ForNeRo – Seamless and Ergonomic Integration of Robotics into the Clinical Workflow” research network, researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and five other research institutions and five companies are developing methods for integrating robotic assistance systems for surgical applications using intuitive interfaces in…
Researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging in Jena and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg have discovered a novel treatment approach for soft tissue tumors, which are frequently occurring in children and are often malignant. Through the targeted transformation of the tumor cells into muscle cells, they succeeded in stopping the growth of the cells and thereby the growth of the tumor. This opens completely new therapeutic options in cancer treatment. Rhabdomyosarcoma, a malignant tumor, is one of the…
Even for scuba and snorkeling enthusiasts, the plunge into open water can be dislocating. Divers frequently swim with limited visibility, which can become a safety hazard for teams trying to find each other in an emergency. Yet even though many dive with smartwatches designed to go to depths of over 100 feet, accurately locating mobile devices underwater has confounded researchers. Now, a team at the University of Washington has developed the first underwater 3D-positioning app for smart devices. When at…
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